Austin-San Marcos, TX

National Compensation Survey

October 1998

________________________________________________________________________________________________

U.S. Department of Labor

Alexis M. Herman, Secretary

Bureau of Labor Statistics

Katharine G. Abraham, Commissioner

August 1999

Bulletin 3095-43
iii

Preface

Data shown in this bulletin were collected as part of the

Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) National Compensation

Survey (NCS). The survey could not have been conducted

without the cooperation of the many private firms and government jurisdictions that provided pay data included in

this bulletin. The Bureau thanks these respondents for their

cooperation.

Field economists of the Bureau of Labor Statistics collected and reviewed the survey data. The Office of Compensation and Working Conditions, in cooperation with the

Office of Field Operations and the Office of Technology

and Survey Processing in the BLS National Office, designed the survey, processed the data, and prepared the

survey for publication.

For additional information regarding this survey, please

contact any BLS regional office at the address and telephone number listed on the inside back cover of this bulletin. You may also write to the Bureau of Labor Statistics

at: Division of Compensation Data Analysis and Planning,

2 Massachusetts Avenue, NE, Room 4175, Washington,

DC 20212-0001, or call (202) 606-6199, or send e-mail to

ocltinfo@bls.gov.

The data contained in this bulletin are also available at

http://stats.bls.gov/comhome.htm, the BLS Internet site.

Data are in three formats: An ASCII file containing the

published table formats; an ASCII file containing positional

columns of data for manipulation as a data base or spreadsheet; and a Portable Document Format (PDF) file containing the entire bulletin.

Results of earlier surveys of this area are also available

from BLS regional offices, the Division of Compensation

Data Analysis, or at the BLS Internet site.

Material in this bulletin is in the public domain and,

with appropriate credit, may be reproduced without permission. This information will be made available to sensory

impaired individuals upon request. Voice phone: (202)

606-7828; Federal Relay Service: 1-800-877-8339.
v

Contents

Page

Introduction................................................................................................................................................ 1

Tables:

A-1. Hourly earnings for selected occupations, all workers, all industries........................................... 2

A-2. Hourly earnings for selected occupations, all workers, private industry and

 State and local government........................................................................................................... 5

A-3. Hourly earnings for selected occupations, full-time and part-time workers,

 all industries ................................................................................................................................. 8

A-4. Weekly and annual earnings and hours for selected occupations,

 full-time workers only, all industries ............................................................................................ 11

B-1. Mean hourly earnings by occupational group and levels, all industries,

 private industry, State and local government, full-time and part-time workers ............................ 13

B-2. Mean hourly earnings for selected occupations and levels, all industries,

 private industry, State and local government, full-time and part-time workers ............................ 16

C-1. Mean hourly earnings by occupational group and selected characteristics,

 all industries ................................................................................................................................. 19

C-2. Mean hourly earnings by occupational group and industry division,

 private industry, all workers ......................................................................................................... 20

C-3. Mean hourly earnings by occupational group and establishment employment size,

 private industry, all workers ......................................................................................................... 21

C-4. Number of workers represented by occupational group ............................................................... 22

Appendixes:

A. Technical Note................................................................................................................................. A-1

 Table 1. Number of establishments studied and represented......................................................... A-5

 Table 2. Relative standard errors................................................................................................... A-6

 Table 3. Average work levels ........................................................................................................ A-8

B. Occupational Classifications............................................................................................................ B-1

C. Generic Leveling Criteria................................................................................................................. C-1

D. Evaluating Your Firm’s Jobs ........................................................................................................... D-1

E. A Guide for Users of Prior BLS Wage Surveys............................................................................... E-1
1

Introduction

The tables in this bulletin summarize the NCS survey results for the Austin-San Marcos, TX metropolitan area.

Tabulations provide information on earnings of workers in

a variety of occupations and at a wide range of work levels.

Also contained in this bulletin are information on the program, a technical note describing survey procedures, and

several appendixes with detailed information on occupational classifications and the generic leveling methodology.

NCS products

The National Compensation Survey of the Bureau of Labor

Statistics provides data on the occupational wages and employee benefits for localities, broad geographic regions,

and the Nation as a whole. The Employment Cost Index, a

quarterly measure of the change in employer costs for

wages and benefits, will be derived from the NCS. Another

product, Employer Costs for Employee Compensation,

measures employers’ average hourly costs for total compensation, that is, wages and benefits. Still another NCS

product measures the incidence of benefit plans and their

provisions. This bulletin is limited to data on occupational

wages and salaries.

About the tables

The tables that follow present data on straight-time occupational earnings. Straight-time earnings include wages

and salaries, incentive pay, cost-of-living adjustments, and

hazard pay. These earnings exclude premium pay for

overtime, vacations, holidays, nonproduction bonuses, and

tips. A total of 480 detailed occupations are used to describe all occupations in the civilian nonfarm economy (excluding the Federal Government and private households).

Table A-1 presents straight-time earnings for detailed

occupations. Data are not shown for any occupations if

they would raise concerns about the confidentiality of the

survey respondent or if the data are insufficient to support

reliable estimates. The earnings shown include the mean

for each occupation, as well as earnings for selected percentiles in each occupation.

Table A-2 compares the type of data and details shown

in table A-1 for the private industry and State and local

government sector.

Table A-3 compares the type of data and details shown

in table A-1 for full-time and part-time workers. The definitions of full-time and part-time workers are those used in

the surveyed establishments.

Table A-4 presents the weekly and annual straight-time

earnings for full-time employees in specific occupations

across all industries. For the weekly and annual earnings,

the mean and median earnings and the mean hours are

shown. The mean hours reflect hours employees are

scheduled to work, excluding overtime hours.

Table B-1 presents mean straight-time hourly earnings

for groups of occupations and for levels of job requirements related to occupations in the group. Separate data

are also shown for private industry and government workers, and for full-time and part-time workers in all industries. (See appendix C, Generic Leveling Criteria, for more

information on job ranking in this survey. Average work

levels for published occupation groups and their component occupations are presented in appendix table 3.)

Table B-2 also presents mean straight-time hourly

earnings, but for detailed occupations at several levels of

job requirements for each detailed occupation.

Table C-1 presents mean straight-time hourly earnings

for occupation groups and selected occupation characteristics. The occupation characteristics include full-time and

part-time status, union and nonunion status, and time or incentive pay status. Union workers’ wages are determined

through collective bargaining. Time workers’ wages are

based solely on hourly rate or salary. Incentive workers’

wages are at least partially based on productivity payments

such as piece rates, commissions and production bonuses.

Table C-2 presents mean straight-time hourly earnings

for occupation groups and industry division of employers;

these are limited to the private sector.

Table C-3 presents mean straight-time hourly earnings

for occupation groups and the employment size of employers; these are also limited to the private sector.

Table C-4 presents the employment scope of this survey. The occupation employment estimates shown relate to

all employers in the area surveyed, not just the surveyed

employers.
Table A-1. Hourly earnings1 for selected occupations, all workers2, all industries, Austin-San

Marcos, TX, October 1998

Occupation3

All industries

Mean

Percentiles

10 25 Median

50 75 90

All occupations ....................................................................... $15.61 $6.69 $8.78 $12.66 $19.41 $28.25

All occupations excluding sales ............................................ 15.66 6.76 8.91 12.94 19.69 28.25

White-collar occupations ................................................... 18.22 8.13 10.51 15.38 22.66 32.31

White-collar occupations excluding sales ......................... 18.76 8.78 11.17 16.08 23.33 32.94

Professional specialty and technical occupations ............ 21.95 11.58 15.14 20.11 27.22 35.09

Professional specialty occupations ............................... 23.71 12.38 16.60 22.00 29.20 37.74

Engineers, architects, and surveyors ....................... 31.37 21.15 25.00 31.04 36.25 42.44

Electrical and electronic engineers ....................... 32.10 21.21 25.74 31.79 36.68 45.33

Industrial engineers .............................................. 30.83 24.02 25.58 28.84 35.39 42.00

Engineers, N.E.C. ................................................. 35.08 28.68 30.53 33.29 40.87 44.77

Mathematical and computer scientists ..................... 25.24 14.42 16.35 24.32 30.77 39.38

Computer systems analysts and scientists ........... 25.75 14.42 16.30 25.21 31.28 39.90

Natural scientists ...................................................... – – – – – –

Health related occupations ....................................... 19.71 15.80 17.00 19.16 21.17 25.00

Registered nurses ................................................ 19.20 16.00 16.92 19.06 20.78 23.00

Teachers, college and university .............................. 26.75 16.67 20.62 26.65 31.66 38.88

Teachers, except college and university .................. 20.89 11.58 17.73 20.77 25.36 27.92

Elementary school teachers ................................. 22.28 17.40 18.81 21.63 25.65 27.90

Secondary school teachers .................................. 22.73 17.11 18.90 22.38 26.34 29.14

Librarians, archivists, and curators ........................... – – – – – –

Social scientists and urban planners ........................ 19.25 14.35 15.11 20.50 21.96 22.66

Social, recreation, and religious workers .................. 13.05 9.88 9.88 12.02 13.78 19.00

Social workers ...................................................... 13.05 9.88 9.88 11.89 13.78 19.00

Lawyers and judges .................................................. 32.35 19.72 23.16 31.82 38.21 46.88

Lawyers ................................................................ 32.35 19.72 23.16 31.82 38.21 46.88

Writers, authors, entertainers, athletes, and

professionals, N.E.C. .......................................... 19.57 6.33 13.94 16.80 26.11 36.63

Professional occupations, N.E.C. ......................... 23.93 8.73 16.80 23.48 27.68 39.03

Technical occupations .................................................. 15.94 10.40 12.15 15.14 18.95 22.76

Licensed practical nurses ..................................... 13.08 11.00 11.89 12.72 14.42 16.12

Health technologists and technicians, N.E.C. ....... 10.61 7.50 8.00 9.67 12.22 15.33

Electrical and electronic technicians ..................... 16.79 10.96 12.00 15.70 21.68 24.27

Engineering technicians, N.E.C. ........................... 19.46 13.63 15.55 19.90 22.70 23.66

Computer programmers ....................................... 16.90 9.06 14.90 16.45 17.74 20.67

Executive, administrative, and managerial occupations ... 24.47 15.15 16.50 20.37 29.17 40.88

Executives, administrators, and managers ............... 27.63 15.15 19.71 24.63 37.12 42.95

Administrators and officials, public administration 36.72 25.94 36.64 39.53 41.42 42.95

Financial managers .............................................. 29.59 21.93 24.20 25.91 36.65 41.51

Managers, marketing, advertising and public

relations .......................................................... 33.84 24.04 24.04 32.31 43.36 45.39

Administrators, education and related fields ......... 30.42 10.00 15.00 29.17 43.56 55.41

Managers and administrators, N.E.C. .................. 27.93 16.24 19.23 24.77 36.31 47.51

Management related occupations ............................ 20.55 15.14 15.80 17.92 19.99 29.33

Accountants and auditors ..................................... 18.68 15.14 15.28 16.32 19.11 29.58

Other financial officers .......................................... 25.00 13.05 15.80 16.89 18.68 27.40

Personnel, training, and labor relations

specialists ....................................................... 23.78 11.78 15.54 22.12 28.89 36.06

Purchasing agents and buyers, N.E.C. ................ 23.80 13.77 16.50 23.65 26.96 40.00

Management related occupations, N.E.C. ............ 20.63 14.40 16.64 18.75 22.93 30.41

Sales occupations ............................................................ 15.20 6.50 7.81 11.16 17.76 27.14

Supervisors, sales occupations ............................ 20.51 10.34 10.34 20.19 23.42 40.87

Sales occupations, other business services ......... 14.54 8.32 11.54 12.98 15.87 19.23

Sales representatives, mining, manufacturing,

and wholesale ................................................. 29.86 13.90 16.00 26.58 41.72 49.74

Sales workers, other commodities ........................ 17.68 6.60 6.85 13.90 22.00 36.56

Cashiers ............................................................... 8.12 5.90 6.44 7.79 9.25 10.85

Administrative support occupations, including clerical ..... 11.16 7.85 8.83 10.51 12.84 14.86

Supervisors, general office ................................... 13.78 11.89 12.27 13.48 14.82 16.30

Supervisors, distribution, scheduling, and

adjusting clerks ............................................... 18.20 13.90 15.45 19.31 21.40 22.60

Secretaries ........................................................... 11.83 9.00 9.85 11.06 13.59 16.53

Typists .................................................................. 10.66 8.25 8.25 9.43 12.50 14.21

Receptionists ........................................................ 9.78 7.00 8.94 9.61 9.62 12.98

Information clerks, N.E.C. ..................................... 8.89 6.97 7.45 9.21 9.70 10.94

See footnotes at end of table.

2
Table A-1. Hourly earnings1 for selected occupations, all workers2, all industries, Austin-San

Marcos, TX, October 1998 — Continued

Occupation3

All industries

Mean

Percentiles

10 25 Median

50 75 90

White-collar occupations (-Continued)

Administrative support occupations, including clerical 

(-Continued)

Order clerks .......................................................... $10.51 $8.27 $9.11 $10.34 $11.77 $12.76

Records clerks, N.E.C. ......................................... 10.93 5.50 8.00 10.43 13.95 16.10

Bookkeepers, accounting and auditing clerks ...... 11.12 8.00 9.26 10.96 13.12 14.25

Dispatchers ........................................................... 11.66 10.20 10.85 11.28 12.49 14.30

Traffic, shipping and receiving clerks ................... 11.23 8.50 9.50 11.81 12.50 13.57

Stock and inventory clerks .................................... 10.44 7.85 7.85 8.50 11.97 18.55

Insurance adjusters, examiners, and

investigators ................................................... 15.39 9.17 12.02 13.68 16.48 24.86

Investigators and adjusters except insurance ...... 11.51 8.50 10.00 11.00 14.38 14.38

General office clerks ............................................. 9.59 7.85 8.00 8.85 10.51 12.50

Data entry keyers ................................................. 9.76 8.00 8.96 9.97 10.26 12.20

Teachers’ aides .................................................... 9.51 7.33 8.38 9.94 10.47 11.37

Administrative support occupations, N.E.C. ......... 9.24 6.15 8.40 8.40 9.53 14.18

Blue-collar occupations ..................................................... 11.51 6.50 8.00 10.52 13.65 18.05

Precision production, craft, and repair occupations .......... 14.27 8.50 10.50 13.31 16.62 20.76

Automobile mechanics ......................................... 18.01 11.00 12.66 16.50 21.92 27.08

Plumbers, pipefitters and steamfitters .................. 15.20 10.00 10.20 15.50 19.00 20.48

Supervisors, production occupations .................... 20.48 10.00 16.56 20.58 25.28 30.29

Electrical and electronic equipment assemblers .. 11.57 9.45 10.20 11.68 12.72 13.84

Machine operators, assemblers, and inspectors .............. 9.52 6.50 7.07 9.20 11.15 12.96

Miscellaneous machine operators, N.E.C. ........... 10.83 7.35 9.47 10.67 12.33 13.82

Welders and cutters .............................................. 9.31 7.75 8.00 9.00 10.50 10.97

Assemblers ........................................................... 8.08 6.50 6.75 7.50 9.17 11.11

Production inspectors, checkers and examiners .. 10.38 6.50 7.03 10.67 13.62 13.88

Transportation and material moving occupations ............. 10.80 5.45 6.64 10.50 12.40 19.85

Truck drivers ......................................................... 11.89 5.55 7.50 10.62 14.04 21.17

Bus drivers ............................................................ 10.62 8.69 9.58 10.52 11.41 12.80

Handlers, equipment cleaners, helpers, and laborers ...... 9.01 5.65 7.17 8.15 9.78 12.58

Stock handlers and baggers ................................. 7.59 5.20 5.65 7.25 8.50 10.83

Freight, stock, and material handlers, N.E.C. ....... 8.80 7.22 8.00 8.75 9.50 10.84

Laborers except construction, N.E.C. ................... 7.71 6.07 6.97 7.62 8.18 9.10

Service occupations ........................................................... 8.31 5.17 6.00 7.10 8.67 13.36

Protective service occupations ................................. 12.86 6.50 7.11 11.31 19.50 21.67

Police and detectives, public service .................... 19.53 13.13 17.07 20.10 21.92 23.54

Guards and police except public service .............. 9.03 6.74 7.05 7.50 9.41 14.09

Food service occupations ......................................... 6.67 2.13 5.50 6.31 8.33 9.98

Waiters and waitresses ........................................ 4.28 2.13 2.13 2.13 6.83 8.03

Cooks ................................................................... 8.94 6.15 7.98 8.89 10.19 11.23

Food preparation occupations, N.E.C. ................. 6.49 5.31 5.80 6.00 6.70 9.10

See footnotes at end of table.

3
Table A-1. Hourly earnings1 for selected occupations, all workers2, all industries, Austin-San

Marcos, TX, October 1998 — Continued

Occupation3

All industries

Mean

Percentiles

10 25 Median

50 75 90

Service occupations (-Continued)

Health service occupations ....................................... $7.73 $5.75 $7.00 $7.85 $8.50 $8.93

Health aides, except nursing ................................ 7.21 5.15 5.15 6.22 8.29 13.50

Nursing aides, orderlies and attendants ............... 7.95 7.00 7.43 8.00 8.50 8.93

Cleaning and building service occupations .............. 6.48 5.15 5.37 6.07 7.15 8.56

Janitors and cleaners ........................................... 6.46 5.15 5.37 6.00 7.14 8.54

Personal service occupations ................................... – – – – – –

1 Earnings are the straight-time hourly wages or salaries paid

to employees. They include incentive pay, cost-of-living

adjustments, and hazard pay. Excluded are premium pay for

overtime, vacations, holidays, nonproduction bonuses, and tips. 

The mean is computed by totaling the pay of all workers and

dividing by the number of workers, weighted by hours. The 10th,

25th, 50th, 75th and 90th percentiles designate position in the

earnings distribution. At the 50th percentile, the median, half of

the workers receive the same as or more than the rate shown,

and half receive the same as or less than the rate shown. At the

25th percentile, one-fourth of the workers earn the same as or

less than the rate shown. At the 75th percentile, one-fourth earn

the same as or more than the rate shown. The 10th and 90th

percentiles follow the same logic. 2 All workers include full-time and part-time workers.

Employees are classified as working either a full-time or a

part-time schedule based on the definition used by each

establishment. Therefore, a worker with a 35-hour-per-week

schedule might be considered a full-time employee in one

establishment, but classified as part-time in another firm, where a

40-hour week is the minimum full-time schedule. 3 A classification system including about 480 individual

occupations is used to cover all workers in the civilian economy.

Individual occupations are classified into one of nine major

occupational groups. 

NOTE: Dashes indicate that no data were reported or that data

did not meet publication criteria. Overall occupational groups and

occupational levels may include data for categories not shown

separately. N.E.C. means "not elsewhere classified." 

NOTE: Individual and average wage rates were collected in this

update survey. A procedure was put into place to "move" the

positional statistics where averages were collected. This

procedure compares current locality survey data–at the quote

level–with the same quote from the prior survey. Individual rates

from the prior survey are moved by the average change in mean

wages for the occupation.

4
Table A-2. Hourly earnings1 for selected occupations, all workers2, private industry and State and local government, Austin-San

Marcos, TX, October 1998

Occupation3

Private industry State and local government

Mean

Percentiles

Mean

Percentiles

10 25 Median

50 75 90 10 25 Median50 75 90

All occupations ..................................................... $15.12 $6.40 $8.24 $11.87 $18.64 $28.85 $16.88 $8.22 $10.51 $15.28 $20.93 $27.68

All occupations excluding sales .......................... 15.10 6.38 8.25 12.00 18.83 28.89 16.91 8.22 10.51 15.28 20.93 27.68

White-collar occupations ................................. 18.36 8.00 10.30 14.90 23.03 34.17 17.95 8.78 10.84 16.30 22.09 29.01

White-collar occupations excluding sales ....... 19.27 8.59 11.39 16.00 24.45 34.80 17.98 8.78 11.06 16.30 22.12 29.04

Professional specialty and technical

occupations .............................................. 22.59 11.72 14.78 19.91 28.68 38.20 20.78 9.88 15.34 20.37 25.85 29.80

Professional specialty occupations ............. 25.78 13.78 17.00 24.43 32.79 42.00 21.06 9.88 15.80 20.68 25.98 30.09

Engineers, architects, and surveyors ..... 31.48 21.21 25.12 31.15 36.40 42.53 – –––––

Electrical and electronic engineers ..... 32.31 21.73 26.12 31.85 36.87 45.68 – –––––

Industrial engineers ............................ 30.83 24.02 25.58 28.84 35.39 42.00 – –––––

Engineers, N.E.C. ............................... 35.08 28.68 30.53 33.29 40.87 44.77 – –––––

Mathematical and computer scientists ... 29.09 17.31 23.56 27.34 34.46 42.32 – –––––

Computer systems analysts and

scientists ....................................... 30.19 21.63 24.71 28.25 35.58 43.47 – –––––

Natural scientists .................................... – – – – – – – –––––

Health related occupations ..................... 19.79 16.00 17.13 19.16 21.39 25.00 – –––––

Registered nurses .............................. 19.28 16.00 17.00 19.24 20.79 23.00 – –––––

Teachers, college and university ............ – – – – – – – –––––

Teachers, except college and university 12.20 8.88 11.58 11.58 12.58 16.88 22.27 17.13 18.88 22.15 25.87 28.24

Elementary school teachers ............... – – – – – – 22.28 17.40 18.81 21.63 25.65 27.90

Secondary school teachers ................ – – – – – – 22.74 17.11 18.91 22.38 26.34 29.14

Librarians, archivists, and curators ......... – – – – – – – –––––

Social scientists and urban planners ...... – – – – – – 19.63 14.35 14.71 21.96 21.96 22.66

Social, recreation, and religious workers – – – – – – 12.34 9.88 9.88 9.88 12.87 17.77

Social workers .................................... – – – – – – 12.34 9.88 9.88 9.88 12.87 17.78

Lawyers and judges ................................ – – – – – – – –––––

Writers, authors, entertainers, athletes,

and professionals, N.E.C. ................. 19.63 6.33 13.94 16.11 24.51 39.67 19.33 8.73 9.83 21.24 27.68 27.68

Professional occupations, N.E.C. ....... 27.01 16.80 19.04 22.07 36.95 42.09 – –––––

Technical occupations ................................ 16.07 10.53 12.15 15.43 19.25 23.00 13.87 10.02 11.43 13.89 16.21 18.77

Licensed practical nurses ................... 13.02 11.00 12.00 12.72 14.00 16.12 – –––––

Health technologists and technicians,

N.E.C. ........................................... 10.44 7.50 8.00 9.60 11.87 15.33 – –––––

Electrical and electronic technicians ... 16.94 11.28 12.00 15.94 21.72 24.27 – –––––

Engineering technicians, N.E.C. ......... 20.05 13.60 18.33 19.93 23.16 23.66 – –––––

Computer programmers ..................... 16.90 9.06 14.90 16.45 17.74 20.67 – –––––

Executive, administrative, and managerial

occupations .............................................. 26.42 15.00 16.83 23.14 32.93 41.13 22.58 15.28 16.32 19.11 24.79 40.02

Executives, administrators, and

managers .......................................... 27.14 15.00 16.58 24.20 36.00 44.60 28.23 17.84 21.02 24.79 37.93 42.95

Financial managers ............................ 31.08 20.24 23.57 26.41 41.13 44.60 – –––––

Managers, marketing, advertising and

public relations .............................. 33.84 24.04 24.04 32.31 43.36 45.39 – –––––

Administrators, education and related

fields ............................................. – – – – – – 40.61 26.57 29.17 36.03 55.41 55.41

Managers and administrators, N.E.C. 28.90 16.24 19.23 26.00 38.46 47.95 – –––––

Management related occupations .......... 25.26 14.76 16.84 20.29 28.91 33.69 17.11 15.28 15.80 16.89 18.55 19.11

Accountants and auditors ................... 21.77 13.83 15.38 19.33 29.50 33.17 – –––––

Purchasing agents and buyers,

N.E.C. ........................................... 23.67 13.77 16.50 23.65 26.96 40.00 – –––––

Management related occupations,

N.E.C. ........................................... 22.49 14.40 18.43 19.41 27.43 33.69 – –––––

Sales occupations .......................................... 15.25 6.50 7.80 11.24 17.85 27.32 – –––––

Supervisors, sales occupations .......... 20.51 10.34 10.34 20.19 23.42 40.87 – –––––

Sales occupations, other business

services ........................................ 14.54 8.32 11.54 12.98 15.87 19.23 – –––––

Sales representatives, mining,

manufacturing, and wholesale ...... 29.86 13.90 16.00 26.58 41.72 49.74 – –––––

Sales workers, other commodities ...... 17.68 6.60 6.85 13.90 22.00 36.56 – –––––

Cashiers ............................................. 8.06 5.90 6.37 7.57 8.92 11.00 – –––––

Administrative support occupations, including

clerical ...................................................... 11.38 7.85 8.83 10.45 13.31 15.75 10.80 7.85 8.78 10.51 11.89 13.92

Secretaries ......................................... 12.05 8.88 10.00 11.00 13.97 17.45 11.24 9.25 9.79 11.70 11.70 15.17

Typists ................................................ 10.66 8.25 8.25 9.43 12.50 14.21 – –––––

See footnotes at end of table.

5
Table A-2. Hourly earnings1 for selected occupations, all workers2, private industry and State and local government, Austin-San

Marcos, TX, October 1998 — Continued

Occupation3

Private industry State and local government

Mean

Percentiles

Mean

Percentiles

10 25 Median

50 75 90 10 25 Median50 75 90

White-collar occupations (-Continued)

Administrative support occupations, including

clerical (-Continued)

Receptionists ...................................... $9.89 $7.00 $9.61 $9.61 $9.62 $12.98 – –––––

Order clerks ........................................ 10.51 8.27 9.11 10.34 11.77 12.76 – –––––

Records clerks, N.E.C. ....................... 11.06 5.50 8.00 10.61 13.95 16.26 – –––––

Bookkeepers, accounting and auditing

clerks ............................................ 11.55 8.00 9.25 11.39 13.46 14.60 – –––––

Traffic, shipping and receiving clerks 11.23 8.50 9.50 11.81 12.50 13.57 – –––––

Stock and inventory clerks .................. 10.44 7.85 7.85 8.50 11.97 18.55 – –––––

Insurance adjusters, examiners, and

investigators ................................. 15.35 9.17 11.95 13.68 16.48 24.93 – –––––

Investigators and adjusters except

insurance ...................................... 11.69 8.50 10.21 11.23 14.38 14.38 – –––––

General office clerks ........................... 9.94 6.89 8.00 8.61 12.46 14.50 $9.41 $7.85 $8.07 $9.01 $10.51 $11.17

Data entry keyers ............................... 9.75 8.00 8.96 9.95 10.26 12.20 – –––––

Teachers’ aides .................................. – – – – – – 9.51 7.33 8.38 9.94 10.47 11.37

Administrative support occupations,

N.E.C. ........................................... 9.93 8.40 8.40 9.09 11.11 15.08 – –––––

Blue-collar occupations ................................... 11.41 6.50 7.86 10.28 13.31 19.00 12.35 7.45 10.13 13.07 14.15 15.80

Precision production, craft, and repair

occupations .............................................. 14.36 8.50 10.00 12.79 17.59 21.79 13.89 11.37 13.07 13.70 14.75 16.79

Automobile mechanics ....................... 18.30 11.00 13.79 16.70 21.92 27.08 – –––––

Plumbers, pipefitters and steamfitters 15.88 10.00 12.50 16.00 19.00 20.48 – –––––

Supervisors, production occupations .. 20.48 10.00 16.56 20.58 25.28 30.29 – –––––

Electrical and electronic equipment

assemblers ................................... 11.57 9.45 10.20 11.68 12.72 13.84 – –––––

Machine operators, assemblers, and

inspectors ................................................. 9.54 6.50 7.10 9.20 11.18 12.99 – –––––

Miscellaneous machine operators,

N.E.C. ........................................... 10.83 7.35 9.47 10.67 12.33 13.82 – –––––

Welders and cutters ............................ 9.31 7.75 8.00 9.00 10.50 10.97 – –––––

Assemblers ......................................... 8.08 6.50 6.75 7.50 9.17 11.11 – –––––

Production inspectors, checkers and

examiners ..................................... 10.38 6.50 7.03 10.67 13.62 13.88 – –––––

Transportation and material moving

occupations .............................................. 10.86 5.45 6.50 10.50 12.40 21.17 10.31 7.61 9.35 9.97 11.41 12.80

Truck drivers ....................................... 11.89 5.55 7.50 10.62 14.04 21.17 – –––––

Bus drivers .......................................... – – – – – – 10.62 8.69 9.58 10.52 11.41 12.80

Handlers, equipment cleaners, helpers, and

laborers ..................................................... 9.13 5.65 7.22 8.25 9.90 13.45 – –––––

Stock handlers and baggers ............... 7.59 5.20 5.65 7.25 8.50 10.83 – –––––

Freight, stock, and material handlers,

N.E.C. ........................................... 8.80 7.22 8.00 8.75 9.50 10.84 – –––––

Laborers except construction, N.E.C. 7.71 6.07 7.58 7.58 8.00 9.10 – –––––

Service occupations ......................................... 6.87 5.15 5.75 6.50 7.80 8.88 12.50 6.74 7.61 10.71 17.34 21.62

Protective service occupations ............... 8.04 6.25 6.76 7.11 7.64 9.41 16.92 10.52 13.13 17.44 21.14 22.77

Police and detectives, public service .. – – – – – – 19.53 13.13 17.07 20.10 21.92 23.54

Guards and police except public

service .......................................... 9.08 6.76 7.05 7.50 8.56 20.00 – –––––

Food service occupations ....................... 6.34 2.13 5.31 6.15 7.98 9.49 8.63 6.00 6.33 9.10 10.55 11.76

Waiters and waitresses ...................... 4.28 2.13 2.13 2.13 6.83 8.03 – –––––

See footnotes at end of table.

6
Table A-2. Hourly earnings1 for selected occupations, all workers2, private industry and State and local government, Austin-San

Marcos, TX, October 1998 — Continued

Occupation3

Private industry State and local government

Mean

Percentiles

Mean

Percentiles

10 25 Median

50 75 90 10 25 Median50 75 90

Service occupations (-Continued)

Health service occupations ..................... $7.74 $5.15 $7.00 $8.00 $8.50 $9.00 – –––––

Health aides, except nursing .............. 7.04 5.15 5.15 5.75 7.86 13.50 – –––––

Nursing aides, orderlies and

attendants ..................................... 8.03 7.00 7.50 8.03 8.50 9.00 – –––––

Cleaning and building service

occupations ...................................... 6.24 5.15 5.30 6.00 6.71 7.90 $7.64 $6.07 $6.90 $7.50 $8.26 $9.17

Janitors and cleaners ......................... 6.19 5.15 5.20 6.00 6.70 7.88 7.64 6.07 6.90 7.50 8.26 9.17

Personal service occupations ................. – – – – – – – –––––

1 Earnings are the straight-time hourly wages or salaries paid to employees. They

include incentive pay, cost-of-living adjustments, and hazard pay. Excluded are premium

pay for overtime, vacations, holidays, nonproduction bonuses, and tips. The mean is

computed by totaling the pay of all workers and dividing by the number of workers,

weighted by hours. The 10th, 25th, 50th, 75th and 90th percentiles designate position in

the earnings distribution. At the 50th percentile, the median, half of the workers receive

the same as or more than the rate shown, and half receive the same as or less than the

rate shown. At the 25th percentile, one-fourth of the workers earn the same as or less

than the rate shown. At the 75th percentile, one-fourth earn the same as or more than

the rate shown. The 10th and 90th percentiles follow the same logic. 2 All workers include full-time and part-time workers. Employees are classified as

working either a full-time or a part-time schedule based on the definition used by each

establishment. Therefore, a worker with a 35-hour-per-week schedule might be

considered a full-time employee in one establishment, but classified as part-time in

another firm, where a 40-hour week is the minimum full-time schedule. 3 A classification system including about 480 individual occupations is used to cover

all workers in the civilian economy. Individual occupations are classified into one of nine

major occupational groups. 

NOTE: Dashes indicate that no data were reported or that data did not meet publication

criteria. Overall occupational groups and occupational levels may include data for

categories not shown separately. N.E.C. means "not elsewhere classified." 

NOTE: Individual and average wage rates were collected in this update survey. A

procedure was put into place to "move" the positional statistics where averages were

collected. This procedure compares current locality survey data–at the quote level–with

the same quote from the prior survey. Individual rates from the prior survey are moved by

the average change in mean wages for the occupation.

7
Table A-3. Hourly earnings1 for selected occupations, full-time and part-time workers2, all industries, Austin-San Marcos, TX,

October 1998

Occupation3

All industries

Full-time Part-time

Mean

Percentiles

Mean

Percentiles

10 25 Median

50 75 90 10 25 Median50 75 90

All occupations ..................................................... $16.40 $7.45 $9.54 $13.48 $20.20 $29.17 $9.28 $5.20 $6.00 $7.20 $9.98 $16.67

All occupations excluding sales .......................... 16.33 7.50 9.54 13.60 20.27 29.17 9.55 5.15 5.75 7.10 10.00 17.87

White-collar occupations ................................. 18.91 8.80 11.28 16.05 23.57 33.45 11.26 6.17 6.95 8.93 13.20 21.02

White-collar occupations excluding sales ....... 19.19 9.16 11.72 16.32 24.00 33.52 12.95 6.33 8.09 9.60 16.67 23.16

Professional specialty and technical

occupations .............................................. 22.45 12.00 15.50 20.50 27.68 35.48 16.65 6.33 9.74 16.00 21.85 27.87

Professional specialty occupations ............. 24.44 13.94 17.13 22.63 29.78 38.46 16.95 6.33 8.73 16.00 22.60 28.48

Engineers, architects, and surveyors ..... 31.37 21.15 25.00 31.04 36.25 42.44 – –––––

Electrical and electronic engineers ..... 32.10 21.21 25.74 31.79 36.68 45.33 – –––––

Industrial engineers ............................ 30.83 24.02 25.58 28.84 35.39 42.00 – –––––

Engineers, N.E.C. ............................... 35.08 28.68 30.53 33.29 40.87 44.77 – –––––

Mathematical and computer scientists ... 25.24 14.42 16.35 24.32 30.77 39.38 – –––––

Computer systems analysts and

scientists ....................................... 25.75 14.42 16.30 25.21 31.28 39.90 – –––––

Natural scientists .................................... – – – – – – – –––––

Health related occupations ..................... 20.04 16.50 17.65 19.39 21.45 25.23 – –––––

Registered nurses .............................. 19.53 15.87 17.00 19.24 20.78 23.03 – –––––

Teachers, college and university ............ 28.41 17.35 24.42 27.78 34.02 39.85 – –––––

Teachers, except college and university 21.17 12.28 17.93 20.82 25.42 28.05 15.43 7.49 7.75 13.78 22.60 25.38

Elementary school teachers ............... 22.28 17.40 18.81 21.63 25.65 27.90 – –––––

Secondary school teachers ................ 22.74 17.11 18.91 22.38 26.34 29.14 – –––––

Librarians, archivists, and curators ......... – – – – – – – –––––

Social scientists and urban planners ...... 18.64 14.35 14.71 20.50 21.96 22.40 – –––––

Social, recreation, and religious workers 13.07 9.88 9.88 11.89 13.78 19.00 – –––––

Social workers .................................... 13.07 9.88 9.88 11.89 13.78 19.00 – –––––

Lawyers and judges ................................ 37.82 19.91 31.82 34.19 45.11 46.88 – –––––

Lawyers .............................................. 37.82 19.91 31.82 34.19 45.11 46.88 – –––––

Writers, authors, entertainers, athletes,

and professionals, N.E.C. ................. 22.89 14.42 15.43 19.71 27.68 39.67 – –––––

Professional occupations, N.E.C. ....... 26.56 16.80 20.20 27.68 27.68 40.13 – –––––

Technical occupations ................................ 16.01 10.72 12.25 15.33 19.23 22.84 14.41 9.95 10.32 11.00 17.00 17.00

Licensed practical nurses ................... 13.18 11.50 12.15 12.87 14.42 15.86 – –––––

Health technologists and technicians,

N.E.C. ........................................... 10.48 7.50 8.00 9.60 11.87 15.33 – –––––

Electrical and electronic technicians ... 16.85 11.10 12.00 15.76 21.70 24.27 – –––––

Engineering technicians, N.E.C. ......... 19.46 13.63 15.55 19.90 22.70 23.66 – –––––

Executive, administrative, and managerial

occupations .............................................. 24.50 15.15 16.50 20.37 29.27 41.00 – –––––

Executives, administrators, and

managers .......................................... 27.63 15.15 19.71 24.63 37.12 42.95 – –––––

Administrators and officials, public

administration ............................... 36.72 25.94 36.64 39.53 41.42 42.95 – –––––

Financial managers ............................ 29.59 21.93 24.20 25.91 36.65 41.51 – –––––

Managers, marketing, advertising and

public relations .............................. 33.84 24.04 24.04 32.31 43.36 45.39 – –––––

Administrators, education and related

fields ............................................. 30.42 10.00 15.00 29.17 43.56 55.41 – –––––

Managers and administrators, N.E.C. 27.93 16.24 19.23 24.77 36.31 47.51 – –––––

Management related occupations .......... 20.59 15.28 15.80 17.94 20.00 29.33 – –––––

Accountants and auditors ................... 18.68 15.14 15.28 16.32 19.11 29.58 – –––––

Other financial officers ........................ 25.00 13.05 15.80 16.89 18.68 27.40 – –––––

Personnel, training, and labor

relations specialists ...................... 23.78 11.78 15.54 22.12 28.89 36.06 – –––––

Purchasing agents and buyers,

N.E.C. ........................................... 23.80 13.77 16.50 23.65 26.96 40.00 – –––––

Management related occupations,

N.E.C. ........................................... 21.12 14.95 17.38 19.41 22.93 33.20 – –––––

Sales occupations .......................................... 17.04 6.75 9.50 12.68 20.19 31.30 8.11 5.90 6.39 7.25 9.46 11.56

Supervisors, sales occupations .......... 20.51 10.34 10.34 20.19 23.42 40.87 – –––––

Sales representatives, mining,

manufacturing, and wholesale ...... 29.86 13.90 16.00 26.58 41.72 49.74 – –––––

Sales workers, other commodities ...... – – – – – – 7.49 6.00 6.30 6.71 7.88 9.38

See footnotes at end of table.

8
Table A-3. Hourly earnings1 for selected occupations, full-time and part-time workers2, all industries, Austin-San Marcos, TX,

October 1998 — Continued

Occupation3

All industries

Full-time Part-time

Mean

Percentiles

Mean

Percentiles

10 25 Median

50 75 90 10 25 Median50 75 90

White-collar occupations (-Continued)

Sales occupations (-Continued)

Cashiers ............................................. $8.85 $6.25 $7.00 $8.69 $10.62 $11.29 $6.97 $5.63 $5.90 $7.09 $7.72 $8.33

Administrative support occupations, including

clerical ...................................................... 11.43 8.00 9.06 10.72 13.07 15.26 8.47 6.00 7.50 8.50 9.60 10.00

Supervisors, general office ................. 13.78 11.89 12.27 13.48 14.82 16.30 – –––––

Supervisors, distribution, scheduling,

and adjusting clerks ...................... 18.20 13.90 15.45 19.31 21.40 22.60 – –––––

Secretaries ......................................... 11.94 9.08 10.00 11.22 13.79 16.53 – –––––

Typists ................................................ 10.66 8.25 8.25 9.43 12.50 14.21 – –––––

Receptionists ...................................... 9.82 7.00 9.61 9.61 9.62 12.98 – –––––

Information clerks, N.E.C. ................... 8.93 6.97 7.45 9.43 9.98 11.04 – –––––

Order clerks ........................................ 10.73 9.00 9.37 10.34 11.87 12.80 – –––––

Records clerks, N.E.C. ....................... 11.77 8.00 8.59 11.44 14.19 16.32 – –––––

Bookkeepers, accounting and auditing

clerks ............................................ 11.12 8.00 9.26 10.96 13.12 14.25 – –––––

Dispatchers ......................................... 11.66 10.20 10.85 11.28 12.49 14.30 – –––––

Stock and inventory clerks .................. 10.56 7.85 7.85 8.50 11.98 18.55 – –––––

Insurance adjusters, examiners, and

investigators ................................. 15.39 9.17 12.02 13.68 16.48 24.86 – –––––

Investigators and adjusters except

insurance ...................................... 11.51 8.50 10.00 11.00 14.38 14.38 – –––––

General office clerks ........................... 9.72 7.85 8.00 9.06 10.84 12.58 8.14 6.74 8.19 8.50 8.50 8.50

Data entry keyers ............................... 10.06 8.96 9.09 10.02 10.40 12.20 – –––––

Teachers’ aides .................................. 9.51 7.33 8.38 9.94 10.47 11.37 – –––––

Administrative support occupations,

N.E.C. ........................................... 9.89 8.40 8.40 8.40 9.53 15.93 – –––––

Blue-collar occupations ................................... 11.76 6.85 8.25 10.67 13.82 18.85 7.76 5.20 5.65 6.08 8.99 12.40

Precision production, craft, and repair

occupations .............................................. 14.30 8.50 10.54 13.31 16.66 20.78 – –––––

Automobile mechanics ....................... 18.01 11.00 12.66 16.50 21.92 27.08 – –––––

Plumbers, pipefitters and steamfitters 15.20 10.00 10.20 15.50 19.00 20.48 – –––––

Supervisors, production occupations .. 20.48 10.00 16.56 20.58 25.28 30.29 – –––––

Electrical and electronic equipment

assemblers ................................... 11.57 9.45 10.20 11.68 12.72 13.84 – –––––

Machine operators, assemblers, and

inspectors ................................................. 9.52 6.50 7.07 9.20 11.15 12.96 – –––––

Miscellaneous machine operators,

N.E.C. ........................................... 10.83 7.35 9.47 10.67 12.33 13.82 – –––––

Welders and cutters ............................ 9.31 7.75 8.00 9.00 10.50 10.97 – –––––

Assemblers ......................................... 8.08 6.50 6.75 7.50 9.19 11.11 – –––––

Production inspectors, checkers and

examiners ..................................... 10.38 6.50 7.03 10.67 13.62 13.88 – –––––

Transportation and material moving

occupations .............................................. 11.09 5.25 7.50 10.50 12.47 21.17 9.45 5.45 5.55 8.74 12.40 13.95

Truck drivers ....................................... 12.76 6.50 8.75 10.62 16.02 21.17 – –––––

Handlers, equipment cleaners, helpers, and

laborers ..................................................... 9.60 6.79 7.50 8.50 10.16 13.71 6.59 5.15 5.65 6.00 7.67 8.75

Stock handlers and baggers ............... 8.75 7.00 7.50 8.05 9.90 11.46 5.73 5.15 5.20 5.65 6.00 6.50

Freight, stock, and material handlers,

N.E.C. ........................................... 8.77 7.22 7.74 8.75 9.53 10.84 – –––––

Service occupations ......................................... 9.08 6.00 6.50 7.64 9.30 16.59 6.57 5.15 5.17 6.00 6.75 8.79

Protective service occupations ............... 13.06 6.75 7.25 12.17 19.50 22.29 11.14 6.08 6.72 7.28 20.00 20.00

Police and detectives, public service .. 19.53 13.13 17.07 20.73 21.92 23.54 – –––––

Food service occupations ....................... 6.79 2.13 5.74 6.50 8.56 9.98 6.47 2.75 5.12 6.15 8.03 10.35

Health service occupations ..................... 7.99 7.00 7.50 8.00 8.50 8.84 7.07 5.15 5.15 5.75 7.57 13.50

Nursing aides, orderlies and

attendants ..................................... 8.02 7.08 7.50 8.00 8.50 8.89 – –––––

Cleaning and building service

occupations ...................................... 7.02 5.87 6.00 6.70 7.64 8.97 – –––––

Janitors and cleaners ......................... 7.04 5.81 6.00 6.71 7.71 9.00 – –––––

See footnotes at end of table.

9
Table A-3. Hourly earnings1 for selected occupations, full-time and part-time workers2, all industries, Austin-San Marcos, TX,

October 1998 — Continued

Occupation3

All industries

Full-time Part-time

Mean

Percentiles

Mean

Percentiles

10 25 Median

50 75 90 10 25 Median50 75 90

Service occupations (-Continued)

Personal service occupations ................. $9.66 $7.50 $8.49 $9.21 $10.81 $12.00 – –––––

1 Earnings are the straight-time hourly wages or salaries paid to employees. They

include incentive pay, cost-of-living adjustments, and hazard pay. Excluded are premium

pay for overtime, vacations, holidays, nonproduction bonuses, and tips. The mean is

computed by totaling the pay of all workers and dividing by the number of workers,

weighted by hours. The 10th, 25th, 50th, 75th and 90th percentiles designate position in

the earnings distribution. At the 50th percentile, the median, half of the workers receive

the same as or more than the rate shown, and half receive the same as or less than the

rate shown. At the 25th percentile, one-fourth of the workers earn the same as or less

than the rate shown. At the 75th percentile, one-fourth earn the same as or more than

the rate shown. The 10th and 90th percentiles follow the same logic. 2 Employees are classified as working either a full-time or a part-time schedule based

on the definition used by each establishment. Therefore, a worker with a

35-hour-per-week schedule might be considered a full-time employee in one

establishment, but classified as part-time in another firm, where a 40-hour week is the

minimum full-time schedule. 3 A classification system including about 480 individual occupations is used to cover

all workers in the civilian economy. Individual occupations are classified into one of nine

major occupational groups. 

NOTE: Dashes indicate that no data were reported or that data did not meet publication

criteria. Overall occupational groups and occupational levels may include data for

categories not shown separately. N.E.C. means "not elsewhere classified." 

NOTE: Individual and average wage rates were collected in this update survey. A

procedure was put into place to "move" the positional statistics where averages were

collected. This procedure compares current locality survey data–at the quote level–with

the same quote from the prior survey. Individual rates from the prior survey are moved by

the average change in mean wages for the occupation.

10
Table A-4. Weekly and annual earnings1 and hours for selected occupations, full-time workers only2, all industries,

Austin-San Marcos, TX, October 1998

Occupation3

All industries

Mean

weekly

hours4

Weekly earnings Mean

annual

hours

Annual earnings

Mean Median Mean Median

All occupations ....................................................................... 40.1 $657 $539 2,020 $33,125 $27,768

All occupations excluding sales ............................................ 40.1 655 543 2,016 32,928 27,997

White-collar occupations ................................................... 40.0 756 634 1,995 37,717 31,782

White-collar occupations excluding sales ......................... 40.0 768 652 1,985 38,098 32,510

Professional specialty and technical occupations ............ 40.2 901 817 1,931 43,341 37,513

Professional specialty occupations ............................... 40.2 982 896 1,893 46,258 39,640

Engineers, architects, and surveyors ....................... 41.5 1,303 1,265 2,159 67,732 65,770

Electrical and electronic engineers ....................... 41.3 1,325 1,301 2,147 68,912 67,626

Industrial engineers .............................................. 44.4 1,369 1,123 2,308 71,165 58,395

Engineers, N.E.C. ................................................. 40.0 1,403 1,332 2,080 72,960 69,247

Mathematical and computer scientists ..................... 40.0 1,009 973 2,080 52,490 50,577

Computer systems analysts and scientists ........... 40.0 1,030 1,008 2,080 53,556 52,432

Natural scientists ...................................................... ––––––

Health related occupations ....................................... 39.6 794 776 2,061 41,291 40,331

Registered nurses ................................................ 39.4 770 770 2,050 40,030 40,019

Teachers, college and university .............................. 38.5 1,094 1,033 1,551 44,070 40,295

Teachers, except college and university .................. 39.8 843 832 1,534 32,478 31,797

Elementary school teachers ................................. 39.7 885 864 1,480 32,976 32,299

Secondary school teachers .................................. 39.9 907 895 1,488 33,833 33,301

Librarians, archivists, and curators ........................... ––––––

Social scientists and urban planners ........................ 40.0 746 820 2,005 37,370 34,019

Social, recreation, and religious workers .................. 40.0 523 476 2,066 26,996 24,731

Social workers ...................................................... 40.0 523 476 2,066 26,996 24,731

Lawyers and judges .................................................. 39.8 1,507 1,339 2,071 78,339 69,648

Lawyers ................................................................ 39.8 1,507 1,339 2,071 78,339 69,648

Writers, authors, entertainers, athletes, and

professionals, N.E.C. .......................................... 40.0 916 788 2,047 46,859 39,993

Professional occupations, N.E.C. ......................... 40.0 1,062 1,107 2,080 55,239 57,574

Technical occupations .................................................. 40.1 642 613 2,065 33,065 31,554

Licensed practical nurses ..................................... 39.3 518 509 2,045 26,960 26,458

Health technologists and technicians, N.E.C. ....... 40.6 426 384 2,112 22,134 19,968

Electrical and electronic technicians ..................... 40.4 680 628 2,099 35,377 32,656

Engineering technicians, N.E.C. ........................... 40.0 778 796 1,694 32,971 39,520

Executive, administrative, and managerial occupations ... 40.1 983 822 2,003 49,081 42,307

Executives, administrators, and managers ............... 40.2 1,110 987 1,945 53,745 49,754

Administrators and officials, public administration 40.0 1,469 1,581 2,080 76,371 82,222

Financial managers .............................................. 40.0 1,183 1,036 2,080 61,539 53,893

Managers, marketing, advertising and public

relations .......................................................... 40.0 1,353 1,292 2,080 70,379 67,205

Administrators, education and related fields ......... 40.1 1,221 1,163 1,937 58,916 49,202

Managers and administrators, N.E.C. .................. 40.6 1,135 1,006 2,113 59,019 52,291

Management related occupations ............................ 40.0 824 718 2,081 42,840 37,315

Accountants and auditors ..................................... 40.0 747 653 2,080 38,846 33,946

Other financial officers .......................................... 40.0 1,000 676 2,080 51,992 35,131

Personnel, training, and labor relations

specialists ....................................................... 40.0 951 885 2,064 49,081 46,010

Purchasing agents and buyers, N.E.C. ................ 40.0 952 946 2,080 49,502 49,192

Management related occupations, N.E.C. ............ 40.8 863 767 2,124 44,852 39,874

Sales occupations ............................................................ 39.6 676 500 2,062 35,138 26,000

Supervisors, sales occupations ............................ 40.7 834 808 2,116 43,383 41,995

Sales representatives, mining, manufacturing,

and wholesale ................................................. 40.5 1,210 1,063 2,106 62,900 55,294

Cashiers ............................................................... 32.5 288 261 1,692 14,984 13,556

Administrative support occupations, including clerical ..... 39.9 456 426 2,046 23,385 22,006

Supervisors, general office ................................... 40.0 551 539 2,078 28,628 28,038

Supervisors, distribution, scheduling, and

adjusting clerks ............................................... 40.0 728 772 2,080 37,864 40,165

Secretaries ........................................................... 40.0 477 449 2,068 24,692 23,336

Typists .................................................................. 39.3 419 365 2,045 21,801 19,001

Receptionists ........................................................ 40.0 393 384 2,080 20,432 19,989

Information clerks, N.E.C. ..................................... 39.7 355 365 2,063 18,435 19,001

Order clerks .......................................................... 40.0 429 414 2,080 22,312 21,510

Records clerks, N.E.C. ......................................... 39.5 465 455 1,989 23,403 23,049

Bookkeepers, accounting and auditing clerks ...... 39.9 443 425 2,073 23,048 22,090

Dispatchers ........................................................... 40.0 467 451 2,053 23,940 23,457

See footnotes at end of table.

11
Table A-4. Weekly and annual earnings1 and hours for selected occupations, full-time workers only2, all industries,

Austin-San Marcos, TX, October 1998 — Continued

Occupation3

All industries

Mean

weekly

hours4

Weekly earnings Mean

annual

hours

Annual earnings

Mean Median Mean Median

White-collar occupations (-Continued)

Administrative support occupations, including clerical 

(-Continued)

Stock and inventory clerks .................................... 40.0 $423 $340 2,080 $21,974 $17,680

Insurance adjusters, examiners, and

investigators ................................................... 39.3 605 539 2,042 31,441 28,052

Investigators and adjusters except insurance ...... 40.0 461 440 2,080 23,948 22,880

General office clerks ............................................. 40.0 389 362 2,079 20,203 18,845

Data entry keyers ................................................. 39.8 400 401 2,070 20,822 20,840

Teachers’ aides .................................................... 39.5 376 397 1,549 14,732 15,499

Administrative support occupations, N.E.C. ......... 38.5 381 315 1,972 19,499 16,380

Blue-collar occupations ..................................................... 40.3 474 427 2,088 24,566 22,152

Precision production, craft, and repair occupations .......... 40.7 582 539 2,114 30,244 28,038

Automobile mechanics ......................................... 44.0 793 680 2,290 41,237 35,360

Plumbers, pipefitters and steamfitters .................. 40.0 608 620 2,080 31,624 32,240

Supervisors, production occupations .................... 41.5 849 926 2,156 44,145 48,152

Electrical and electronic equipment assemblers .. 40.0 463 467 2,080 24,064 24,294

Machine operators, assemblers, and inspectors .............. 40.0 381 368 2,080 19,799 19,144

Miscellaneous machine operators, N.E.C. ........... 40.0 433 427 2,080 22,520 22,194

Welders and cutters .............................................. 40.0 372 360 2,080 19,367 18,720

Assemblers ........................................................... 40.0 323 300 2,080 16,808 15,600

Production inspectors, checkers and examiners .. 40.0 415 427 2,080 21,590 22,194

Transportation and material moving occupations ............. 40.1 445 420 2,042 22,655 21,141

Truck drivers ......................................................... 40.0 510 425 2,080 26,537 22,093

Handlers, equipment cleaners, helpers, and laborers ...... 39.8 382 332 2,070 19,878 17,238

Stock handlers and baggers ................................. 39.4 344 322 2,046 17,900 16,744

Freight, stock, and material handlers, N.E.C. ....... 39.4 345 340 2,047 17,950 17,680

Service occupations ........................................................... 40.0 363 301 2,050 18,603 15,600

Protective service occupations ................................. 42.8 559 465 2,223 29,043 24,190

Police and detectives, public service .................... 40.1 782 829 2,083 40,676 43,114

Food service occupations ......................................... 37.4 254 253 1,895 12,861 13,076

Health service occupations ....................................... 39.1 312 314 2,033 16,239 16,328

Nursing aides, orderlies and attendants ............... 39.3 315 317 2,042 16,379 16,494

Cleaning and building service occupations .............. 39.9 280 268 2,047 14,383 13,811

Janitors and cleaners ........................................... 39.9 281 268 2,044 14,400 13,890

Personal service occupations ................................... 40.0 387 369 1,841 17,789 18,158

1 Earnings are the straight-time wages or salaries paid to employees. They

include incentive pay, cost-of-living adjustments, and hazard pay. Excluded are

premium pay for overtime, vacations, holidays, nonproduction bonuses, and tips. 

The mean is computed by totaling the pay of all workers and dividing by the

number of workers, weighted by hours. The median designates

position--one-half of the workers receive the same as or more, and one-half

receive the same as or less than the rate shown. 2 Employees are classified as working either a full-time or a part-time

schedule based on the definition used by each establishment. Therefore, a

worker with a 35-hour-per-week schedule might be considered a full-time

employee in one establishment, but classified as part-time in another firm, where

a 40-hour week is the minimum full-time schedule. 3 A classification system including about 480 individual occupations is used

to cover all workers in the civilian economy. Individual occupations are classified

into one of nine major occupational groups. 

4 Mean weekly hours are the hours an employee is scheduled to work in a

week, exclusive of overtime.

NOTE: Dashes indicate that no data were reported or that data did not meet

publication criteria. Overall occupational groups and occupational levels may

include data for categories not shown separately. N.E.C. means "not elsewhere

classified." 

NOTE: Individual and average wage rates were collected in this update survey. 

A procedure was put into place to "move" the positional statistics where averages

were collected. This procedure compares current locality survey data–at the

quote level–with the same quote from the prior survey. Individual rates from the

prior survey are moved by the average change in mean wages for the

occupation.

12
Table B-1. Mean hourly earnings1 by occupational group and levels2, all industries, private industry,

State and local government, full-time and part-time workers, Austin-San Marcos, TX, October 1998

Occupational group3 and level

All workers 4 All industries

All industriesPrivate

industry

State and

local

government

Full-time

workers

Part-time

workers

All occupations ....................................................................... $15.61 $15.12 $16.88 $16.40 $9.28

All occupations excluding sales ............................................ 15.66 15.10 16.91 16.33 9.55

White-collar occupations ................................................... 18.22 18.36 17.95 18.91 11.26

Level 1 .............................................................. 7.05 7.05 – 7.46 6.61

Level 2 .............................................................. 8.59 8.86 7.18 8.93 7.51

Level 3 .............................................................. 10.65 11.27 8.69 10.78 9.68

Level 4 .............................................................. 10.71 10.92 10.10 10.94 9.35

Level 5 .............................................................. 13.00 14.20 11.01 13.10 10.65

Level 6 .............................................................. 15.27 15.28 15.26 15.29 –

Level 7 .............................................................. 17.64 17.75 17.51 17.66 –

Level 8 .............................................................. 20.46 20.90 19.97 20.53 –

Level 9 .............................................................. 22.97 23.77 21.95 22.81 24.48

Level 10 ............................................................ 24.97 25.55 23.86 24.97 –

Level 11 ............................................................ 31.93 33.60 26.33 31.93 –

Level 12 ............................................................ 36.07 36.92 33.15 36.07 –

Level 13 ............................................................ 43.30 43.43 – 43.30 –

Not able to be leveled ....................................... 26.81 23.68 29.59 30.86 10.63

White-collar occupations excluding sales ......................... 18.76 19.27 17.98 19.19 12.95

Level 2 .............................................................. 8.48 8.78 7.18 8.80 7.41

Level 3 .............................................................. 9.34 9.64 8.69 9.40 8.57

Level 4 .............................................................. 10.84 11.15 10.11 11.02 9.66

Level 5 .............................................................. 12.79 14.09 11.01 12.87 10.80

Level 6 .............................................................. 15.28 15.30 15.26 15.30 –

Level 7 .............................................................. 17.31 17.14 17.51 17.32 –

Level 8 .............................................................. 20.25 20.56 19.97 20.31 –

Level 9 .............................................................. 21.70 21.48 21.95 21.37 24.48

Level 10 ............................................................ 24.97 25.55 23.86 24.97 –

Level 11 ............................................................ 30.67 32.11 26.33 30.67 –

Level 12 ............................................................ 35.97 36.81 33.15 35.97 –

Level 13 ............................................................ 43.30 43.43 – 43.30 –

Not able to be leveled ....................................... 26.81 23.68 29.59 30.86 10.63

Professional specialty and technical occupations ............ 21.95 22.59 20.78 22.45 16.65

Professional specialty occupations ............................... 23.71 25.78 21.06 24.44 16.95

Level 5 .............................................................. 10.52 ––––

Level 6 .............................................................. 15.73 13.62 17.03 16.04 –

Level 7 .............................................................. 18.84 17.51 20.33 18.90 –

Level 8 .............................................................. 21.67 20.77 22.42 21.94 –

Level 9 .............................................................. 23.09 22.30 23.69 22.54 24.48

Level 10 ............................................................ 26.58 27.92 23.61 26.58 –

Level 11 ............................................................ 31.06 32.90 25.25 31.06 –

Level 12 ............................................................ 36.70 36.83 – 36.70 –

Level 13 ............................................................ 43.28 43.28 – 43.28 –

Not able to be leveled ....................................... 18.19 17.32 20.38 22.78 10.41

Engineers, architects, and surveyors ....................... 31.37 31.48 – 31.37 –

Level 9 .............................................................. 23.73 23.73 – 23.73 –

Level 10 ............................................................ 28.05 – – 28.05 –

Level 11 ............................................................ 32.99 32.99 – 32.99 –

Level 12 ............................................................ 37.51 37.51 – 37.51 –

Mathematical and computer scientists ..................... 25.24 29.09 – 25.24 –

Level 11 ............................................................ 26.33 27.10 – 26.33 –

Level 12 ............................................................ 32.54 32.54 – 32.54 –

Natural scientists ...................................................... –––––

Health related occupations ....................................... 19.71 19.79 – 20.04 –

Level 8 .............................................................. 19.54 19.52 – 20.20 –

Level 9 .............................................................. 20.09 20.09 – – –

Teachers, college and university .............................. 26.75 – – 28.41 –

Level 11 ............................................................ 29.52 – – 29.52 –

Teachers, except college and university .................. 20.89 12.20 22.27 21.17 15.43

Level 6 .............................................................. 17.95 – 21.34 19.55 –

Level 7 .............................................................. 19.33 – 21.88 19.34 –

Level 8 .............................................................. 22.76 – 22.76 22.76 –

Level 9 .............................................................. 23.25 – 23.25 – –

Librarians, archivists, and curators ........................... –––––

See footnotes at end of table.

13
Table B-1. Mean hourly earnings1 by occupational group and levels2, all industries, private industry,

State and local government, full-time and part-time workers, Austin-San Marcos, TX, October 1998 —

Continued

Occupational group3 and level

All workers 4 All industries

All industriesPrivate

industry

State and

local

government

Full-time

workers

Part-time

workers

White-collar occupations (-Continued)

Social scientists and urban planners ........................ $19.25 – $19.63 $18.64 –

Social, religious, and recreation workers .................. 13.05 – 12.34 13.07 –

Level 6 .............................................................. 12.84 – – 12.84 –

Lawyers and judges .................................................. 32.35 – – 37.82 –

Writers, authors, entertainers, athletes, and

professionals, N.E.C. .......................................... 19.57 $19.63 19.33 22.89 –

Level 8 .............................................................. 22.20 22.20 – 22.20 –

Not able to be leveled ....................................... 15.29 ––––

Technical occupations .................................................. 15.94 16.07 13.87 16.01 $14.41

Level 4 .............................................................. 12.04 12.08 – 12.07 –

Level 5 .............................................................. 13.47 13.50 – 13.86 –

Level 6 .............................................................. 17.88 18.05 – 17.29 –

Level 7 .............................................................. 18.12 18.21 – 18.17 –

Level 8 .............................................................. 19.39 20.08 – 19.39 –

Level 9 .............................................................. 20.78 20.78 – 20.78 –

Executive, administrative, and managerial occupations ... 24.47 26.42 22.58 24.50 –

Level 5 .............................................................. 13.79 – – 13.79 –

Level 7 .............................................................. 16.33 14.73 17.31 16.33 –

Level 8 .............................................................. 17.72 19.62 – 17.72 –

Level 9 .............................................................. 20.93 21.37 20.54 20.93 –

Level 10 ............................................................ 22.76 21.40 – 22.76 –

Level 11 ............................................................ 29.81 30.30 – 29.81 –

Level 12 ............................................................ 35.02 36.77 – 35.02 –

Level 13 ............................................................ 43.33 43.81 – 43.33 –

Not able to be leveled ....................................... 37.56 62.10 – 38.13 –

Executives, administrators, and managers ............... 27.63 27.14 28.23 27.63 –

Level 7 .............................................................. 13.76 – – 13.76 –

Level 8 .............................................................. 19.76 19.76 – 19.76 –

Level 9 .............................................................. 22.11 22.58 21.73 22.11 –

Level 10 ............................................................ 22.76 21.40 – 22.76 –

Level 11 ............................................................ 29.85 30.83 – 29.85 –

Level 12 ............................................................ 36.55 – – 36.55 –

Level 13 ............................................................ 43.44 43.94 – 43.44 –

Not able to be leveled ....................................... 34.09 – – 34.09 –

Management related occupations ............................ 20.55 25.26 17.11 20.59 –

Level 7 .............................................................. 17.12 – 17.21 17.12 –

Level 8 .............................................................. 16.47 – – 16.47 –

Level 9 .............................................................. 19.72 20.25 19.22 19.72 –

Level 11 ............................................................ 29.73 29.73 – 29.73 –

Sales occupations ............................................................ 15.20 15.25 – 17.04 8.11

Level 1 .............................................................. 7.06 7.06 – 7.41 6.71

Level 3 .............................................................. 14.19 14.26 – 15.32 –

Level 4 .............................................................. 10.08 10.09 – 10.48 8.23

Level 5 .............................................................. 14.73 14.73 – 15.25 –

Level 6 .............................................................. 15.25 15.25 – 15.25 –

Level 8 .............................................................. 22.27 22.29 – 22.27 –

Level 9 .............................................................. 37.92 – – 37.92 –

Administrative support occupations, including clerical ..... 11.16 11.38 10.80 11.43 8.47

Level 2 .............................................................. 8.38 8.66 7.15 8.68 7.39

Level 3 .............................................................. 9.36 9.66 8.73 9.43 8.57

Level 4 .............................................................. 10.50 10.78 9.99 10.68 9.57

Level 5 .............................................................. 13.09 14.34 11.51 13.09 –

Level 6 .............................................................. 13.65 14.70 13.03 13.65 –

Level 7 .............................................................. 15.34 16.71 14.27 15.34 –

Blue-collar occupations ......................................................... 11.51 11.41 12.35 11.76 7.76

Level 1 .............................................................. 7.45 7.45 – 7.93 6.17

Level 2 .............................................................. 8.59 8.64 7.86 8.58 8.80

Level 3 .............................................................. 9.79 9.71 11.00 9.69 –

Level 4 .............................................................. 13.54 13.73 10.38 13.55 –

Level 5 .............................................................. 14.06 13.79 – 14.00 –

Level 6 .............................................................. 13.87 13.98 – 13.87 –

Level 7 .............................................................. 18.49 18.93 – 18.49 –

See footnotes at end of table.

14
Table B-1. Mean hourly earnings1 by occupational group and levels2, all industries, private industry,

State and local government, full-time and part-time workers, Austin-San Marcos, TX, October 1998 —

Continued

Occupational group3 and level

All workers 4 All industries

All industriesPrivate

industry

State and

local

government

Full-time

workers

Part-time

workers

Blue-collar occupations (-Continued)

Precision production, craft, and repair occupations .......... $14.27 $14.36 $13.89 $14.30 –

Level 2 .............................................................. 7.67 – – 7.67 –

Level 3 .............................................................. 9.95 9.86 – 9.95 –

Level 4 .............................................................. 14.71 14.95 – 14.71 –

Level 5 .............................................................. 13.34 12.65 – 13.34 –

Level 6 .............................................................. 13.90 14.11 – 13.90 –

Level 7 .............................................................. 17.87 18.26 – 17.87 –

Machine operators, assemblers, and inspectors .............. 9.52 9.54 – 9.52 –

Level 2 .............................................................. 8.22 8.24 – 8.22 –

Level 3 .............................................................. 9.29 9.29 – 9.29 –

Level 4 .............................................................. 11.26 11.26 – 11.26 –

Level 5 .............................................................. 12.68 12.68 – 12.68 –

Transportation and material moving occupations ............. 10.80 10.86 10.31 11.09 $9.45

Level 2 .............................................................. 11.36 ––––

Level 3 .............................................................. 10.38 10.25 – 9.89 –

Level 4 .............................................................. 12.54 12.97 – 12.64 –

Handlers, equipment cleaners, helpers, and laborers ..... 9.01 9.13 – 9.60 6.59

Level 1 .............................................................. 7.90 7.90 – 8.62 6.09

Level 2 .............................................................. 8.74 8.89 – 8.73 –

Level 3 .............................................................. 9.86 9.86 – 10.06 –

Service occupations ........................................................... 8.31 6.87 12.50 9.08 6.57

Level 1 .............................................................. 6.32 6.19 7.24 6.48 6.04

Level 2 .............................................................. 6.92 6.68 7.93 8.04 5.57

Level 3 .............................................................. 7.74 7.71 – 7.75 –

Level 4 .............................................................. 9.83 9.59 10.24 8.87 –

Protective service occupations ............................... 12.86 8.04 16.92 13.06 11.14

Food service occupations ........................................ 6.67 6.34 8.63 6.79 6.47

Level 1 .............................................................. 6.18 6.00 7.32 6.02 6.50

Health service occupations ..................................... 7.73 7.74 – 7.99 7.07

Level 2 .............................................................. 7.83 7.88 – – –

Level 3 .............................................................. 8.20 8.20 – – –

Cleaning and building service occupations ............ 6.48 6.24 7.64 7.02 –

Level 1 .............................................................. 6.43 6.25 7.32 6.59 –

Level 2 .............................................................. – – 7.90 8.15 –

Personal service occupations ................................. – – – 9.66 –

1 Earnings are the straight-time hourly wages or salaries paid to

employees. They include incentive pay, cost-of-living adjustments,

and hazard pay. Excluded are premium pay for overtime, vacations,

holidays, nonproduction bonuses, and tips. The mean is computed

by totaling the pay of all workers and dividing by the number of

workers, weighted by hours. 2 Each occupation for which wage data are collected in an

establishment is evaluated based on 10 factors, including knowledge,

complexity, work environment, etc. Points are assigned based on the

occupation’s ranking within each factor. The points are summed to

determine the overall level of the occupation. See technical note for

more information. 3 A classification system including about 480 individual

occupations is used to cover all workers in the civilian economy.

Individual occupations are classified into one of nine major

occupational groups. 4 All workers include full-time and part-time workers. Employees

are classified as working either a full-time or a part-time schedule

based on the definition used by each establishment. Therefore, a

worker with a 35-hour-per-week schedule might be considered a

full-time employee in one establishment, but classified as part-time in

another firm, where a 40-hour week is the minimum full-time

schedule.

NOTE: Dashes indicate that no data were reported or that data did

not meet publication criteria. Overall occupational groups and

occupational levels may include data for categories not shown

separately. N.E.C. means "not elsewhere classified." 

NOTE: Individual and average wage rates were collected in this

update survey. A procedure was put into place to "move" the

positional statistics where averages were collected. This procedure

compares current locality survey data–at the quote level–with the

same quote from the prior survey. Individual rates from the prior

survey are moved by the average change in mean wages for the

occupation.

15
Table B-2. Mean hourly earnings1 for selected occupations and levels2, all industries, private

industry, State and local government, full-time and part-time workers, Austin-San Marcos, TX, October

1998

Occupation3 and level

All workers4 All industries

All industriesPrivate

industry

State and

local

government

Full-time

workers

Part-time

workers

White-collar occupations:

Professional specialty and technical occupations:

Professional specialty occupations:

Electrical and electronic engineers ....................... $32.10 $32.31 – $32.10 –

Level 11 ............................................................ 33.27 33.27 – 33.27 –

Industrial engineers .............................................. 30.83 30.83 – 30.83 –

Engineers, N.E.C. ................................................. 35.08 35.08 – 35.08 –

Computer systems analysts and scientists ........... 25.75 30.19 – 25.75 –

Level 11 ............................................................ 26.33 27.10 – 26.33 –

Level 12 ............................................................ 32.54 32.54 – 32.54 –

Registered nurses ................................................ 19.20 19.28 – 19.53 –

Level 8 .............................................................. 19.36 19.34 – 20.07 –

Elementary school teachers ................................. 22.28 – $22.28 22.28 –

Level 7 .............................................................. 21.71 – 21.71 21.71 –

Level 8 .............................................................. 22.50 – 22.50 22.50 –

Secondary school teachers .................................. 22.73 – 22.74 22.74 –

Level 7 .............................................................. 22.10 ––––

Level 8 .............................................................. 23.17 – 23.17 23.17 –

Social workers ...................................................... 13.05 – 12.34 13.07 –

Level 6 .............................................................. 12.84 – – 12.84 –

Lawyers ................................................................ 32.35 – – 37.82 –

Technical occupations:

Licensed practical nurses ..................................... 13.08 13.02 – 13.18 –

Level 5 .............................................................. 12.82 12.85 – 13.30 –

Health technologists and technicians, N.E.C. ....... 10.61 10.44 – 10.48 –

Electrical and electronic technicians ..................... 16.79 16.94 – 16.85 –

Level 8 .............................................................. 19.85 19.85 – 19.85 –

Engineering technicians, N.E.C. ........................... 19.46 20.05 – 19.46 –

Computer programmers ....................................... 16.90 16.90 – – –

Executive, administrative, and managerial occupations:

Administrators and officials, public administration 36.72 – – 36.72 –

Financial managers .............................................. 29.59 31.08 – 29.59 –

Managers, marketing, advertising and public

relations .......................................................... 33.84 33.84 – 33.84 –

Administrators, education and related fields ......... 30.42 – 40.61 30.42 –

Managers and administrators, N.E.C. .................. 27.93 28.90 – 27.93 –

Level 9 .............................................................. 23.41 23.41 – 23.41 –

Accountants and auditors ..................................... 18.68 21.77 – 18.68 –

Other financial officers .......................................... 25.00 – – 25.00 –

Personnel, training, and labor relations

specialists ....................................................... 23.78 – – 23.78 –

Purchasing agents and buyers, N.E.C. ................ 23.80 23.67 – 23.80 –

Management related occupations, N.E.C. ............ 20.63 22.49 – 21.12 –

Sales occupations:

Supervisors, sales occupations ............................ 20.51 20.51 – 20.51 –

Sales occupations, other business services ......... 14.54 14.54 – – –

Sales representatives, mining, manufacturing,

and wholesale ................................................. 29.86 29.86 – 29.86 –

Sales workers, other commodities ........................ 17.68 17.68 – – $7.49

Level 1 .............................................................. 7.31 7.31 – – –

Cashiers ............................................................... 8.12 8.06 – 8.85 6.97

Level 1 .............................................................. 7.17 7.17 – 7.63 6.73

Level 3 .............................................................. 9.60 ––––

Administrative support occupations, including clerical:

Supervisors, general office ................................... 13.78 – – 13.78 –

Supervisors, distribution, scheduling, and

adjusting clerks ............................................... 18.20 – – 18.20 –

Secretaries ........................................................... 11.83 12.05 11.24 11.94 –

Level 4 .............................................................. 10.37 10.49 – 10.53 –

Level 5 .............................................................. 14.20 14.69 – 14.20 –

Typists .................................................................. 10.66 10.66 – 10.66 –

Receptionists ........................................................ 9.78 9.89 – 9.82 –

Level 2 .............................................................. 9.65 9.65 – – –

Information clerks, N.E.C. ..................................... 8.89 – – 8.93 –

Order clerks .......................................................... 10.51 10.51 – 10.73 –

See footnotes at end of table.

16
Table B-2. Mean hourly earnings1 for selected occupations and levels2, all industries, private

industry, State and local government, full-time and part-time workers, Austin-San Marcos, TX, October

1998 — Continued

Occupation3 and level

All workers4 All industries

All industriesPrivate

industry

State and

local

government

Full-time

workers

Part-time

workers

White-collar occupations: (-Continued)

Administrative support occupations, including clerical: 

(-Continued)

Order clerks (-Continued)

Level 3 .............................................................. $10.00 $10.00 – – –

Records clerks, N.E.C. ......................................... 10.93 11.06 – $11.77 –

Level 4 .............................................................. 11.14 – – 11.42 –

Bookkeepers, accounting and auditing clerks ...... 11.12 11.55 – 11.12 –

Level 3 .............................................................. 8.83 – – 8.83 –

Level 4 .............................................................. 10.52 – – 10.52 –

Level 5 .............................................................. 12.94 12.94 – 12.94 –

Dispatchers ........................................................... 11.66 – – 11.66 –

Traffic, shipping and receiving clerks ................... 11.23 11.23 – – –

Stock and inventory clerks .................................... 10.44 10.44 – 10.56 –

Insurance adjusters, examiners, and

investigators ................................................... 15.39 15.35 – 15.39 –

Investigators and adjusters except insurance ...... 11.51 11.69 – 11.51 –

General office clerks ............................................. 9.59 9.94 $9.41 9.72 $8.14

Level 2 .............................................................. 8.18 8.42 – – –

Level 3 .............................................................. 8.96 9.61 8.67 8.97 –

Level 4 .............................................................. 9.66 9.99 – 9.90 –

Data entry keyers ................................................. 9.76 9.75 – 10.06 –

Teachers’ aides .................................................... 9.51 – 9.51 9.51 –

Administrative support occupations, N.E.C. ......... 9.24 9.93 – 9.89 –

Level 4 .............................................................. 9.96 ––––

Professional occupations, N.E.C. ......................... 23.93 27.01 – 26.56 –

Blue-collar occupations:

Precision production, craft, and repair occupations:

Automobile mechanics ......................................... 18.01 18.30 – 18.01 –

Plumbers, pipefitters and steamfitters .................. 15.20 15.88 – 15.20 –

Supervisors, production occupations .................... 20.48 20.48 – 20.48 –

Electrical and electronic equipment assemblers .. 11.57 11.57 – 11.57 –

Machine operators, assemblers, and inspectors:

Miscellaneous machine operators, N.E.C. ........... 10.83 10.83 – 10.83 –

Welders and cutters .............................................. 9.31 9.31 – 9.31 –

Assemblers ........................................................... 8.08 8.08 – 8.08 –

Production inspectors, checkers and examiners .. 10.38 10.38 – 10.38 –

Transportation and material moving occupations:

Truck drivers ......................................................... 11.89 11.89 – 12.76 –

Level 3 .............................................................. 10.27 10.27 – – –

Bus drivers ............................................................ 10.62 – 10.62 – –

Handlers, equipment cleaners, helpers, and laborers:

Stock handlers and baggers ................................. 7.59 7.59 – 8.75 5.73

Level 1 .............................................................. 6.43 6.43 – 7.39 5.70

Level 3 .............................................................. 9.82 9.82 – – –

Freight, stock, and material handlers, N.E.C. ....... 8.80 8.80 – 8.77 –

Level 2 .............................................................. 8.92 8.92 – – –

Laborers except construction, N.E.C. ................... 7.71 7.71 – – –

Service occupations:

Protective service occupations:

Police and detectives, public service .................... 19.53 – 19.53 19.53 –

Guards and police except public service .............. 9.03 9.08 – – –

Food service occupations:

Waiters and waitresses ........................................ 4.28 4.28 – – –

Cooks ................................................................... 8.94 ––––

Food preparation occupations, N.E.C. ................. 6.49 ––––

Level 1 .............................................................. 6.49 ––––

Health service occupations:

Health aides, except nursing ................................ 7.21 7.04 – – –

Nursing aides, orderlies and attendants ............... 7.95 8.03 – 8.02 –

Level 2 .............................................................. 7.90 ––––

Cleaning and building service occupations:

Janitors and cleaners ........................................... 6.46 6.19 7.64 7.04 –

See footnotes at end of table.

17
Table B-2. Mean hourly earnings1 for selected occupations and levels2, all industries, private

industry, State and local government, full-time and part-time workers, Austin-San Marcos, TX, October

1998 — Continued

Occupation3 and level

All workers4 All industries

All industriesPrivate

industry

State and

local

government

Full-time

workers

Part-time

workers

Service occupations: (-Continued)

Cleaning and building service occupations: 

(-Continued)

Janitors and cleaners (-Continued)

Level 1 .............................................................. $6.42 $6.21 $7.32 $6.59 –

Level 2 .............................................................. – – 7.90 8.21 –

1 Earnings are the straight-time hourly wages or salaries paid to

employees. They include incentive pay, cost-of-living adjustments,

and hazard pay. Excluded are premium pay for overtime, vacations,

holidays, nonproduction bonuses, and tips. The mean is computed

by totaling the pay of all workers and dividing by the number of

workers, weighted by hours. 2 Each occupation for which wage data are collected in an

establishment is evaluated based on 10 factors, including knowledge,

complexity, work environment, etc. Points are assigned based on the

occupation’s ranking within each factor. The points are summed to

determine the overall level of the occupation. See technical note for

more information. 3 A classification system including about 480 individual

occupations is used to cover all workers in the civilian economy.

Individual occupations are classified into one of nine major

occupational groups. 4 All workers include full-time and part-time workers. Employees

are classified as working either a full-time or a part-time schedule

based on the definition used by each establishment. Therefore, a

worker with a 35-hour-per-week schedule might be considered a

full-time employee in one establishment, but classified as part-time in

another firm, where a 40-hour week is the minimum full-time

schedule.

NOTE: Dashes indicate that no data were reported or that data did

not meet publication criteria. Overall occupational groups and

occupational levels may include data for categories not shown

separately. N.E.C. means "not elsewhere classified." 

NOTE: Individual and average wage rates were collected in this

update survey. A procedure was put into place to "move" the

positional statistics where averages were collected. This procedure

compares current locality survey data–at the quote level–with the

same quote from the prior survey. Individual rates from the prior

survey are moved by the average change in mean wages for the

occupation.

18
Table C-1. Mean hourly earnings1 by occupational group and selected characteristics, all industries, Austin-San

Marcos, TX, October 1998

Occupational group2 Full-time

workers3

Part-time

workers3 Union4 Nonunion4 Time5 Incentive5

All occupations ....................................................................... $16.40 $9.28 $12.97 $15.65 $15.35 $19.52

All occupations excluding sales ............................................ 16.33 9.55 12.97 15.70 15.63 16.67

White-collar occupations ................................................... 18.91 11.26 – 18.26 18.06 20.61

White-collar excluding sales ............................................. 19.19 12.95 – 18.81 18.80 –

Professional specialty and technical occupations ............ 22.45 16.65 – 21.95 22.14 –

Professional specialty occupations ............................... 24.44 16.95 – 23.71 24.00 –

Technical occupations .................................................. 16.01 14.41 – 15.94 15.94 –

Executive, administrative, and managerial occupations ... 24.50 – – 24.47 24.47 –

Sales occupations ............................................................ 17.04 8.11 – 15.20 11.70 21.57

Administrative support including clerical occupations ...... 11.43 8.47 – 11.18 11.09 –

Blue-collar occupations ..................................................... 11.76 7.76 13.90 11.40 10.92 17.59

Precision production, craft, and repair occupations .......... 14.30 – 14.27 14.27 13.65 18.07

Machine operators, assemblers, and inspectors .............. 9.52 – – 9.59 9.52 –

Transportation and material moving occupations ............. 11.09 9.45 – 9.84 9.96 15.62

Handlers, equipment cleaners, helpers, and laborers ..... 9.60 6.59 – 9.02 8.32 –

Service occupations ........................................................... 9.08 6.57 – 8.31 8.34 –

1 Earnings are the straight-time hourly wages or salaries paid to

employees. They include incentive pay, cost-of-living adjustments, and

hazard pay. Excluded are premium pay for overtime, vacations, holidays,

nonproduction bonuses, and tips. The mean is computed by totaling the pay

of all workers and dividing by the number of workers, weighted by hours. 2 A classification system including about 480 individual occupations is

used to cover all workers in the civilian economy. Individual occupations are

classified into one of nine major occupational groups. 3 Employees are classified as working either a full-time or a part-time

schedule based on the definition used by each establishment. Therefore, a

worker with a 35-hour-per-week schedule might be considered a full-time

employee in one establishment, but classified as part-time in another firm,

where a 40-hour week is the minimum full-time schedule. 4 Union workers are those whose wages are determined through

collective bargaining. 5 Time workers’ wages are based solely on an hourly rate or salary;

incentive workers are those whose wages are at least partially based on

productivity payments such as piece rates, commissions, and production

bonuses.

NOTE: Dashes indicate that no data were reported or that data did not meet

publication criteria. Overall occupational groups and occupational levels may

include data for categories not shown separately. N.E.C. means "not

elsewhere classified." 

NOTE: Individual and average wage rates were collected in this update

survey. A procedure was put into place to "move" the positional statistics

where averages were collected. This procedure compares current locality

survey data–at the quote level–with the same quote from the prior survey. 

Individual rates from the prior survey are moved by the average change in

mean wages for the occupation.

19
Table C-2. Mean hourly earnings1 by occupational group and industry division, private industry, all workers2, Austin-San Marcos,

TX, October 1998

Occupational group3 All private

industries

Goods-producing industries4 Service-producing industries5

Total Mining

ConstructionManufacturing

Total

Transportation

and

public

utilities

Wholesale

and

retail

trade

Finance,

insurance,

and

real

estate

Services

All occupations ........................................................................... $15.12 $18.54 – $15.70 $18.79 $13.50 $15.39 $13.32 $15.39 $12.98

All occupations excluding sales ................................................ 15.10 18.32 – 13.97 18.73 13.25 13.86 13.08 15.39 12.78

White-collar occupations ....................................................... 18.36 25.57 – 20.97 25.74 15.74 16.54 14.99 15.89 16.17

White-collar excluding sales ................................................. 19.27 25.43 – 15.73 25.79 16.25 13.81 17.19 15.89 16.33

Professional specialty and technical occupations ................ 22.59 28.00 – – 27.91 18.17 – 16.58 – 18.36

Professional specialty occupations ................................... 25.78 31.76 – – 31.61 20.10 – 18.19 – 20.47

Technical occupations ...................................................... 16.07 17.97 – – 18.08 14.94 – – – 14.36

Executive, administrative, and managerial occupations ....... 26.42 29.59 – – 29.73 24.92 – 29.76 21.31 25.10

Sales occupations ................................................................ 15.25 28.72 – – 23.64 14.53 24.25 13.66 – 15.15

Administrative support, including clerical occupations ......... 11.38 12.89 – 11.71 13.16 11.07 12.58 9.23 12.91 10.14

Blue-collar occupations ......................................................... 11.41 11.25 – 13.43 10.78 11.65 13.90 11.36 – 9.91

Precision production, craft, and repair occupations .............. 14.36 13.61 – 14.08 13.31 15.55 – 16.28 – 14.83

Machine operators, assemblers, and inspectors .................. 9.54 9.81 – – 9.81 7.04 – – – 6.92

Transportation and material moving occupations ................. 10.86 11.07 – – 10.64 10.79 16.49 7.25 – –

Handlers, equipment cleaners, helpers, and laborers ......... 9.13 9.18 – – 9.06 9.11 – 9.12 – 9.12

Service occupations ............................................................... 6.87 – – – – 6.86 – 6.89 – 6.84

1 Earnings are the straight-time hourly wages or salaries paid to employees. They

include incentive pay, cost-of-living adjustments, and hazard pay. Excluded are premium

pay for overtime, vacations, holidays, nonproduction bonuses, and tips. The mean is

computed by totaling the pay of all workers and dividing by the number of workers,

weighted by hours. 2 All workers include full-time and part-time workers. Employees are classified as

working either a full-time or a part-time schedule based on the definition used by each

establishment. Therefore, a worker with a 35-hour-per-week schedule might be

considered a full-time employee in one establishment, but classified as part-time in

another firm, where a 40-hour week is the minimum full-time schedule. 3 A classification system including about 480 individual occupations is used to cover

all workers in the civilian economy. Individual occupations are classified into one of nine

major occupational groups. 

4 Goods-producing industries include mining, construction, and manufacturing. 5 Service-producing industries include transportation and public utilities; wholesale

and retail trade; finance, insurance, and real estate; and services.

NOTE: Dashes indicate that no data were reported or that data did not meet publication

criteria. Overall occupational groups and occupational levels may include data for

categories not shown separately. N.E.C. means "not elsewhere classified." 

NOTE: Individual and average wage rates were collected in this update survey. A

procedure was put into place to "move" the positional statistics where averages were

collected. This procedure compares current locality survey data–at the quote level–with

the same quote from the prior survey. Individual rates from the prior survey are moved by

the average change in mean wages for the occupation.

20
Table C-3. Mean hourly earnings1 by occupational group and establishment employment size, private

industry, all workers2, Austin-San Marcos, TX, October 1998

Occupational group3

All private

industry

workers

50 - 99

workers

100 workers or more

Total 100 - 499

workers

500

workers or

more

All occupations ....................................................................... $15.12 $11.42 $15.84 $13.77 $19.27

All occupations excluding sales ............................................ 15.10 11.68 15.70 13.48 19.01

White-collar occupations ................................................... 18.36 13.37 19.13 17.09 21.63

White-collar excluding sales ............................................. 19.27 15.51 19.69 17.79 21.51

Professional specialty and technical occupations ............ 22.59 22.34 22.61 19.72 24.64

Professional specialty occupations ............................... 25.78 22.97 26.04 21.29 30.03

Technical occupations .................................................. 16.07 – 16.09 15.60 16.33

Executive, administrative, and managerial occupations ... 26.42 17.55 28.04 27.89 28.23

Sales occupations ............................................................ 15.25 10.48 16.84 15.33 22.78

Administrative support, including clerical occupations ..... 11.38 9.97 11.59 11.31 11.97

Blue-collar occupations ..................................................... 11.41 11.29 11.44 10.74 13.19

Precision production, craft, and repair occupations .......... 14.36 14.79 14.20 13.34 16.57

Machine operators, assemblers, and inspectors .............. 9.54 8.92 9.58 8.69 11.05

Transportation and material moving occupations ............. 10.86 7.06 12.06 10.73 –

Handlers, equipment cleaners, helpers, and laborers ..... 9.13 7.40 9.59 9.45 10.10

Service occupations ........................................................... 6.87 6.41 7.03 7.05 6.90

1 Earnings are the straight-time hourly wages or salaries paid to

employees. They include incentive pay, cost-of-living adjustments,

and hazard pay. Excluded are premium pay for overtime, vacations,

holidays, nonproduction bonuses, and tips. The mean is computed

by totaling the pay of all workers and dividing by the number of

workers, weighted by hours. 2 All workers include full-time and part-time workers. Employees

are classified as working either a full-time or a part-time schedule

based on the definition used by each establishment. Therefore, a

worker with a 35-hour-per-week schedule might be considered a

full-time employee in one establishment, but classified as part-time in

another firm, where a 40-hour week is the minimum full-time

schedule. 3 A classification system including about 480 individual

occupations is used to cover all workers in the civilian economy.

Individual occupations are classified into one of nine major

occupational groups. 

NOTE: Dashes indicate that no data were reported or that data did

not meet publication criteria. Overall occupational groups and

occupational levels may include data for categories not shown

separately. N.E.C. means "not elsewhere classified." 

NOTE: Individual and average wage rates were collected in this

update survey. A procedure was put into place to "move" the

positional statistics where averages were collected. This procedure

compares current locality survey data–at the quote level–with the

same quote from the prior survey. Individual rates from the prior

survey are moved by the average change in mean wages for the

occupation.

21
Table C-4. Number of workers1 represented by occupational group, Austin-San Marcos,

TX, October 1998

Occupational group2

All workers

All industries Private

industry

State and

local government

All occupations ....................................................................... 331,199 234,077 97,122

All occupations excluding sales ............................................ 294,489 198,066 96,423

White-collar occupations ................................................... 221,287 141,999 79,288

White-collar excluding sales ............................................. 184,576 105,988 78,589

Professional specialty and technical occupations ............ 85,138 50,318 34,820

Professional specialty occupations ............................... 67,461 33,716 33,745

Technical occupations .................................................. 17,676 16,601 1,075

Executive, administrative, and managerial occupations ... 37,030 17,552 19,478

Sales occupations ............................................................ 36,711 36,011 –

Administrative support including clerical occupations ...... 62,408 38,118 24,290

Blue-collar occupations ..................................................... 64,935 57,466 7,469

Precision production, craft, and repair occupations .......... 24,765 20,057 4,709

Machine operators, assemblers, and inspectors .............. 17,172 17,036 –

Transportation and material moving occupations ............. 9,228 7,844 1,384

Handlers, equipment cleaners, helpers, and laborers ..... 13,770 12,529 –

Service occupations ........................................................... 44,977 34,612 10,366

1 Both full-time and part-time workers were included in

the survey. Employees are classified as working either a

full-time or a part-time schedule based on the definition

used by each establishment. Therefore, a worker with a

35-hour-per-week schedule might be considered a full-time

employee in one establishment, but classified as part-time

in another establishment, where a 40-hour week is the

minimum full-time schedule. 2 A classification system including about 480 individual

occupations is used to cover all workers in the civilian

economy. Individual occupations are classified into one of

nine major occupational groups. 

NOTE: Dashes indicate that no data were reported or that

data did not meet publication criteria. Overall occupational

groups and occupational levels may include data for

categories not shown separately. N.E.C. means "not

elsewhere classified." 

NOTE: Individual and average wage rates were collected in

this update survey. A procedure was put into place to

"move" the positional statistics where averages were

collected. This procedure compares current locality survey

data–at the quote level–with the same quote from the prior

survey. Individual rates from the prior survey are moved by

the average change in mean wages for the occupation.

22
A-1

Appendix A: Technical Note

This section provides basic information on the procedures

and concepts used to produce the data contained in this

bulletin. It is divided into three parts: Planning for the survey; data collection; and processing and analyzing the data.

Although this section answers some questions commonly

asked by data users, it is not a comprehensive description

of all the steps required to produce the data.

Planning for the survey

The overall design of the survey includes questions of

scope, frame, and sample selection.

Survey scope

This survey covered establishments employing 50 workers

or more in goods-producing industries (mining, construction and manufacturing); service-producing industries

(transportation, communications, electric, gas, and sanitary

services; wholesale trade; retail trade; finance, insurance,

and real estate; and services industries); and State and local

governments. Agriculture, private households, and the Federal Government were excluded from the scope of the survey. For purposes of this survey an establishment was an

economic unit which produces goods or services, a central

administrative office, or an auxiliary unit providing support

services to a company. For private industries in this survey, the establishment was usually at a single physical location. For State and local governments, an establishment

was defined as all locations of a government entity.

The Austin-San Marcos, TX Metropolitan Statistical

Area includes Bastrop, Caldwell, Hays, Travis, and Williamson Counties, TX.

Sampling frame

The list of establishments from which the survey sample

was selected (sampling frame) was developed from State

unemployment insurance reports. Due to the volatility of

industries within the private sector, sampling frames were

developed using the most recent month of reference available at the time the sample was selected. The sampling

frame was reviewed prior to the survey and, when necessary, missing establishments were added, out-of-business

and out-of-scope establishments were removed, and addresses, employment levels, industry classification, and

other information were updated.

Sample design

The sample for this survey area was selected using a two

stage stratified design with probability proportional to employment sampling at each stage. The first stage of sample

selection was a probability sample of establishments. The

sample of establishments was drawn by first stratifying the

sampling frame by industry and ownership. The number of

sample establishments allocated to each stratum is approximately proportional to the stratum employment. Each

sampled establishment is selected within a stratum with a

probability proportional to its employment. Use of this

technique means that the larger an establishment’s employment, the greater its chance of selection. Weights were

applied to each establishment when the data were tabulated

so that it represents similar units (by industry and employment size) in the economy which were not selected for

collection. See appendix table 1 for a count of establishments in the survey by employment size. The second stage

of sample selection, detailed below, was a probability sample of occupations within a sampled establishment.

Data collection

The collection of data from survey respondents required

detailed procedures. Collection was the responsibility of

the field economists, working out of the Regional Office,

who visited each establishment surveyed. Other contact

methods, such as mail and telephone, were used to followup and update data.

Occupational selection and classification

Identification of the occupations for which wage data were

to be collected was a multi-step process:

1. Probability-proportional-to-size selection of establishment jobs.

2. Classification of jobs into occupations based on the

Census of Population system.

3. Characterization of jobs as full-time v. part-time,

union v. nonunion, and time v. incentive.

4. Determination of the level of work of each job.

For each occupation, wage data were collected for those

workers who met all the criteria identified in the last three

steps. Special procedures were developed for jobs for

which a correct classification or level could not be determined.

In step one, the jobs to be sampled were selected at each

establishment by the BLS field economist during a personal

visit. A complete list of employees was used for sampling,
A-2

with each selected worker representing a job within the establishment.

As with the selection of establishments, the selection of

a job was based on probability proportional to its size in

the establishment. The greater the number of people

working in a job in the establishment, the greater its chance

of selection.

The number of jobs collected in each establishment was

based on an establishment’s employment size as shown in

the following schedule:

Number of employees Number of selected jobs

50-99 8

100-249 10

250-999 12

1000-2,499 16

2,500+ 20

The second step of the process entailed classifying the

selected jobs into occupations based on their duties. The

National Compensation Survey occupational classification

system is based on the 1990 Census of Population. A selected job may fall into any one of about 480 occupational

classifications, from accountant to wood lathe operator. In

cases where a job’s duties overlapped two or more census

classification codes, the duties used to set the wage level

were used to classify the job. Classification by primary

duties was the fallback.

Each occupational classification is an element of a

broader classification known as a major occupational group

(MOG). Occupations can fall into any of the following

MOGs:

· Professional specialty and technical

· Executive, administrative, and managerial

· Sales

· Administrative support including clerical

· Precision production, craft, and repair

· Machine operators, assemblers, and inspectors

· Transportation and material moving

· Handlers, equipment cleaners, helpers, and laborers

· Service occupations

Appendix B contains a complete list of all individual

occupations, classified by the MOG to which they belong.

In step three, certain other job characteristics of the chosen

worker were identified. First, the worker was identified as

holding either a full-time or part-time job, based on the establishment’s definition of those terms. Then the worker

was classified as having a time versus incentive job, depending on whether any part of pay was directly based on

the actual production of the worker, rather than solely on

hours worked. Finally, the worker was identified as being

in a union job or a nonunion job. See the “Definition of

Terms” section on the following page for more detail.

Generic leveling through point factor analysis

In the last step before wage data were collected, the work

level of each selected job was determined using a “generic

leveling” process. Generic leveling ranks and compares all

occupations randomly selected in an establishment using

the same criteria. This is a major departure from the

method used in the past in the Bureau’s Occupational

Compensation Surveys which studied specifically defined

occupations with leveling definitions unique to each occupation.

For this survey, the level of each occupation in an establishment was determined by an analysis of each of 10

leveling factors. Nine of these factors are drawn from the

U.S. Government Office of Personnel Management’s Factor Evaluation System, which is the underlying structure for

evaluation of General Schedule Federal employees. The

tenth factor, supervisory duties, attempts to account for the

effect of supervisory duties. It is considered experimental.

The 10 factors are:

· Knowledge

· Supervision received

· Guidelines

· Complexity

· Scope and effect

· Personal contacts

· Purpose of contacts

· Physical demands

· Work environment

· Supervisory duties

Each factor contains a number of levels and each level

has an associated written description and point value. The

number and range of points differ among the factors. For

each factor, an occupation was assigned a level based on

which written description best matched the job. Within

each occupation, the points for 9 factors (supervisory duties

was excluded) were recorded and totaled. The total determines the overall level of the occupation. Appendix table 3

presents average work levels for published occupational

groups and selected occupations. A description of the levels for each factor is shown in appendix C.

Tabulations of levels of work for occupations in the

survey follow the Federal Government’s white-collar General Schedule. Point ranges for each of the 15 levels are

shown in appendix D. It also includes an example of a leveled job and a guide to help data users evaluate jobs in their

firm.

Wage data collected in prior surveys using the new generic leveling method were evaluated by BLS researchers

using regression techniques. For each of the major occupational groups, wages were compared to the 10 generic

level factors (and levels within those factors). The analysis

showed that several of the generic level factors, most notably knowledge and supervision received, had strong explanatory power for wages. That is, as the levels within a

given factor increased, the wages also increased. Detailed
A-3

research continues in the area. The results of this research

will be published by BLS in the future.

Collection period

The survey data were collected over several months. For

each establishment in the survey, the data reflect the establishment’s most recent information at the time of collection.

The payroll reference month shown in the tables reflects

the average date of this information for all sample units.

Earnings

Earnings were defined as regular payments from the employer to the employee as compensation for straight-time

hourly work, or for any salaried work performed. The following components were included as part of earnings:

· Incentive pay, including commissions, production

bonuses, and piece rates

· Cost-of-living allowances

· Hazard pay

· Payments of income deferred due to participation

in a salary reduction plan

· Deadhead pay, defined as pay given to transportation workers returning in a vehicle without freight

or passengers

The following forms of payments were not considered

part of straight-time earnings:

· Shift differentials, defined as extra payment for

working a schedule that varies from the norm, such

as night or weekend work

· Premium pay for overtime, holidays, and weekends

· Bonuses not directly tied to production (e.g.,

Christmas bonuses, profit-sharing bonuses)

· Uniform and tool allowances

· Free room and board

· Payments made by third parties (e.g., tips, bonuses

given by manufacturers to department store salespeople, referral incentives in real estate)

· On-call pay

In order to calculate earnings for various time periods

(hourly, weekly, and annual), data on work schedules were

also collected. For hourly workers, scheduled hours

worked per day and per week, exclusive of overtime, were

recorded. Annual weeks worked were determined. Because

salaried workers, exempt from overtime provisions, often

work beyond the assigned work schedule, their typical

number of hours actually worked was collected.

Definition of terms

Full-time worker. Any employee that the employer considers to be full time.

Incentive worker. Any employee whose earnings are tied,

at least in part, to commissions, piece rates, production bonuses, or other incentives based on production or sales.

Level. A ranking of an occupation based on the requirements of the position. (See the description in the technical

note and the example for more details on the leveling process.)

Nonunion worker. An employee in an occupation not

meeting the conditions for union coverage (see below).

Part-time worker. Any employee that the employer considers to be part-time.

Straight-time. Time worked at the standard rate of pay for

the job.

Time-based worker. Any employee whose earnings are

tied to an hourly rate or salary, and not to a specific level of

production.

Union worker. Any employee is in a union occupation

when all of the following conditions are met:

· A labor organization is recognized as the bargaining

agent for all workers in the occupation

· Wage and salary rates are determined through collective bargaining or negotiations

· Settlement terms, which must include earnings provisions and may include benefit provisions, are embodied in a signed mutually binding collective bargaining

agreement

 Processing and analyzing the data

Data were processed and analyzed at the Bureau’s National

Office following collection.

Weighting and nonresponse

Sample weights were calculated for each establishment and

occupation in the survey. These weights reflected the relative size of the occupation within the establishment and of

the establishment within the sample universe. Weights

were used to aggregate the individual establishments or occupations into the various data series. Some of the establishments surveyed could not supply or refused to supply

information. If data were not provided by a sample member, the weights of responding sample members in the same

or similar “cells” were adjusted to account for the missing

data. This technique assumes that the mean value of the

nonrespondents equals the mean value of the respondents at

some detailed “cell” level. Responding and nonresponding

establishments were classified into these cells according to

industry and employment size. Responding and nonresponding occupations within responding establishments

were classified into cells that were additionally defined by

major occupation group and job level.

Establishments that were determined to be out of busi-
A-4

ness or outside the scope of the survey had their weights

changed to zero. If only partial data were given by a sample establishment or occupation, or data were missing, the

response was treated as a refusal.

Survey response

Establishments

 Total in sample 200

Responding 149

Out of business or not in

 survey scope 8

Unable or refused to pro-

 vide data 43

Some surveys may have a high nonresponse rate for the

all industries or private industry iterations. Such instances

are noted in the bulletin table footnotes.

Estimation

The wage series in the tables are computed by combining

the wages for individual establishment/occupations. Before

being combined, individual wage rates are weighted by:

number of workers; the sample weight adjusted for nonresponding establishments and other factors; and the occupation work schedule, varying depending on whether hourly,

weekly, or annual rates are being calculated.

Not all series that were calculated met the criteria for

publication. Before any series was published, it was reviewed to make sure that the number of observations underlying it was sufficient. This review prevented publishing a series that could have revealed information about a

specific establishment.

The number of workers estimates represent the total in

all establishments within the scope of the study and not the

number actually surveyed. Because occupational structures

among establishments differ, estimates of the number of

workers obtained from the sample of establishments serve

only to indicate the relative importance of the occupational

groups studied.

Data reliability

The data in this bulletin are estimates from a scientifically

selected probability sample. There are two types of errors

possible in an estimate based on a sample survey, sampling

and nonsampling.

Sampling errors occur because observations come only

from a sample and not from an entire population. The

sample used for this survey is one of a number of possible

samples of the same size that could have been selected using the sample design. Estimates derived from the different

samples would differ from each other.

A measure of the variation among these differing estimates is called the standard error or sampling error. It indicates the precision with which an estimate from a particular sample approximates the average result of all

possible samples. The relative standard error (RSE) is the

standard error divided by the estimate. Appendix table 2

contains RSE data for selected series in this bulletin. RSE

data for all series in this bulletin are available on the Internet web site and by request to the BLS National Office.

The standard error can be used to calculate a “confidence interval” around a sample estimate. As an example,

suppose table A-1 shows that mean hourly earnings for all

workers was $12.79 per hour, and appendix table 2 shows a

relative standard error of 3.6 percent for this estimate. At

the 90-percent level, the confidence interval for this estimate is $13.55 to $12.03 ($12.79 plus and minus 1.645

times 3.6 percent times $12.79). If all possible samples

were selected to estimate the population value, the interval

from each sample would include the true population value

approximately 90 percent of the time.

Nonsampling errors also affect survey results. They

can stem from many sources, such as inability to obtain information for some establishments, difficulties with survey

definitions, inability of the respondents to provide correct

information, or mistakes in recording or coding the data

obtained. A Technical Reinterview Program done in all

survey areas will be used in the development of a formal

quality assessment process to help compute nonsampling

error. Although they were not specifically measured, the

nonsampling errors were expected to be minimal due to the

extensive training of the field economists who gathered the

survey data by personal visit, computer edits of the data,

and detailed data review.
Appendix table 1. Number of establishments studied by industry division and establishment employment size,

and number of establishments represented, Austin-San Marcos, TX, October 1998

Industry

Number of

establishments represented

Number of establishments studied

Total studied 50 - 99

workers

100 workers or more

Total 100 - 499

workers

500 workers

or more

All industries ......................................................... 1,515 148 28 120 76 44

Private industry ................................................. 1,469 122 26 96 70 26

Goods-producing industries .......................... 283 41 7 34 21 13

Mining ....................................................... 2 1 – 1 1 –

Construction ............................................. 117 9 3 6 5 1

Manufacturing ........................................... 164 31 4 27 15 12

Service-producing industries ........................ 1,186 81 19 62 49 13

Tranportation and public utilities ............... 37 6 – 6 5 1

Wholesale and retail trade ........................ 542 27 10 17 16 1

Finance, insurance and real estate .......... 61 7 1 6 4 2

Services .................................................... 545 41 8 33 24 9

State and local government .............................. 46 26 2 24 6 18

NOTE: Dashes indicate that no data were reported. Overall industry and industry groups may include data for categories not shown separately.

A-5
Appendix table 2. Relative standard errors of mean hourly earnings1 for selected

occupations, all industries, private industry, and State and local government, all

workers2, Austin-San Marcos, TX, October 1998

(in percent)

Occupation3 All industries

Private

industry

State and

local

government

All occupations ....................................................................... 2.7 3.2 5.1

All occupations excluding sales ............................................ 2.9 3.6 5.1

White-collar occupations ................................................... 2.9 3.4 5.7

White-collar occupations excluding sales ......................... 3.2 3.8 5.8

Professional specialty and technical occupations ............ 3.3 4.0 5.3

Professional specialty occupations ............................... 3.9 4.9 5.5

Engineers, architects, and surveyors ....................... 4.8 4.8 –

Electrical and electronic engineers ....................... 7.4 7.5 –

Industrial engineers .............................................. 7.2 7.2 –

Engineers, N.E.C. ................................................. 5.8 5.8 –

Mathematical and computer scientists ..................... 11.3 4.9 –

Computer systems analysts and scientists ........... 12.2 5.0 –

Natural scientists ...................................................... – – –

Health related occupations ....................................... 3.1 3.3 –

Registered nurses ................................................ 2.7 2.8 –

Teachers, college and university .............................. 8.5 – –

Teachers, except college and university .................. 2.6 8.2 1.2

Elementary school teachers ................................. 0.9 – 0.9

Secondary school teachers .................................. 2.1 – 2.1

Librarians, archivists, and curators ........................... – – –

Social scientists and urban planners ........................ 9.4 – 10.7

Social, recreation, and religious workers .................. 13.3 – 14.5

Social workers ...................................................... 13.4 – 14.5

Lawyers and judges .................................................. 14.1 – –

Lawyers ................................................................ 14.1 – –

Writers, authors, entertainers, athletes, and

professionals, N.E.C. .......................................... 14.2 17.1 21.3

Professional occupations, N.E.C. ......................... 12.2 13.0 –

Technical occupations .................................................. 3.7 3.9 7.4

Licensed practical nurses ..................................... 2.7 2.8 –

Health technologists and technicians, N.E.C. ....... 10.5 10.8 –

Electrical and electronic technicians ..................... 6.7 6.8 –

Engineering technicians, N.E.C. ........................... 7.1 7.0 –

Computer programmers ....................................... 8.0 8.0 –

Executive, administrative, and managerial occupations ... 7.0 7.6 11.7

Executives, administrators, and managers ............... 8.0 7.8 14.7

Administrators and officials, public administration 7.7 – –

Financial managers .............................................. 9.3 11.6 –

Managers, marketing, advertising and public

relations .......................................................... 11.4 11.4 –

Administrators, education and related fields ......... 20.2 – 14.4

Managers and administrators, N.E.C. .................. 9.9 10.7 –

Management related occupations ............................ 7.6 11.4 2.6

Accountants and auditors ..................................... 8.6 11.8 –

Other financial officers .......................................... 36.7 – –

Personnel, training, and labor relations

specialists ....................................................... 17.9 – –

Purchasing agents and buyers, N.E.C. ................ 7.8 8.6 –

Management related occupations, N.E.C. ............ 8.5 10.6 –

Sales occupations ............................................................ 7.8 7.8 –

Supervisors, sales occupations ............................ 15.9 15.9 –

Sales occupations, other business services ......... 11.3 11.3 –

Sales representatives, mining, manufacturing,

and wholesale ................................................. 16.4 16.4 –

Sales workers, other commodities ........................ 21.6 21.6 –

Cashiers ............................................................... 5.4 5.7 –

Administrative support occupations, including clerical ..... 2.6 3.1 4.9

Supervisors, general office ................................... 4.8 – –

Supervisors, distribution, scheduling, and

adjusting clerks ............................................... 6.9 – –

Secretaries ........................................................... 4.0 5.4 3.9

Typists .................................................................. 5.6 5.6 –

Receptionists ........................................................ 6.6 7.0 –

See footnotes at end of table.

A-6
Appendix table 2. Relative standard errors of mean hourly earnings1 for selected

occupations, all industries, private industry, and State and local government, all

workers2, Austin-San Marcos, TX, October 1998 — Continued

(in percent)

Occupation3 All industries

Private

industry

State and

local

government

White-collar occupations (-Continued)

Administrative support occupations, including clerical 

(-Continued)

Information clerks, N.E.C. ..................................... 7.6 – –

Order clerks .......................................................... 2.5 2.5 –

Records clerks, N.E.C. ......................................... 9.1 10.2 –

Bookkeepers, accounting and auditing clerks ...... 5.7 5.9 –

Dispatchers ........................................................... 4.3 – –

Traffic, shipping and receiving clerks ................... 5.7 5.7 –

Stock and inventory clerks .................................... 13.4 13.4 –

Insurance adjusters, examiners, and

investigators ................................................... 16.0 16.7 –

Investigators and adjusters except insurance ...... 6.7 6.8 –

General office clerks ............................................. 4.7 6.0 6.5

Data entry keyers ................................................. 4.3 4.4 –

Teachers’ aides .................................................... 4.5 – 4.5

Administrative support occupations, N.E.C. ......... 8.5 8.1 –

Blue-collar occupations ..................................................... 3.2 3.5 5.9

Precision production, craft, and repair occupations .......... 3.9 4.8 2.7

Automobile mechanics ......................................... 5.3 4.9 –

Plumbers, pipefitters and steamfitters .................. 13.0 12.8 –

Supervisors, production occupations .................... 10.2 10.2 –

Electrical and electronic equipment assemblers .. 3.2 3.2 –

Machine operators, assemblers, and inspectors .............. 5.3 5.3 –

Miscellaneous machine operators, N.E.C. ........... 5.9 5.9 –

Welders and cutters .............................................. 2.8 2.8 –

Assemblers ........................................................... 7.7 7.7 –

Production inspectors, checkers and examiners .. 13.6 13.6 –

Transportation and material moving occupations ............. 10.7 11.9 4.7

Truck drivers ......................................................... 13.7 13.7 –

Bus drivers ............................................................ 3.5 – 3.5

Handlers, equipment cleaners, helpers, and laborers ...... 5.9 6.2 –

Stock handlers and baggers ................................. 7.3 7.3 –

Freight, stock, and material handlers, N.E.C. ....... 2.1 2.1 –

Laborers except construction, N.E.C. ................... 3.8 5.0 –

Service occupations ........................................................... 5.5 3.2 8.7

Protective service occupations ................................. 13.0 9.3 8.0

Police and detectives, public service .................... 6.5 – 6.5

Guards and police except public service .............. 15.4 18.8 –

Food service occupations ......................................... 5.9 5.9 10.0

Waiters and waitresses ........................................ 22.0 22.0 –

Cooks ................................................................... 6.3 – –

Food preparation occupations, N.E.C. ................. 6.4 – –

Health service occupations ....................................... 5.5 6.2 –

Health aides, except nursing ................................ 16.9 19.2 –

Nursing aides, orderlies and attendants ............... 1.4 1.4 –

Cleaning and building service occupations .............. 3.9 4.1 3.4

Janitors and cleaners ........................................... 4.1 4.3 3.4

Personal service occupations ................................... – – –

1 The relative standard error is the standard error

expressed as a percent of the estimate. Hourly

earnings for these occupations are presented in Tables

A-1 and A-2. Reliable relative standard errors could

not be determined for all occupations. 2 All workers include full-time and part-time

workers. Employees are classified as working either a

full-time or a part-time schedule based on the definition

used by each establishment. Therefore, a worker with

a 35-hour-per-week schedule might be considered a

full-time employee in one establishment, but classified

as part-time in another firm, where a 40-hour week is

the minimum full-time schedule. 3 A classification system including about 480

individual occupations is used to cover all workers in

the civilian economy. Individual occupations are

classified into one of nine major occupational groups. 

NOTE: Dashes indicate that no data were reported or

that data did not meet publication criteria. Overall

occupational groups and occupational levels may

include data for categories not shown separately. 

N.E.C. means "not elsewhere classified." 

NOTE: Individual and average wage rates were

collected in this update survey. A procedure was put

into place to "move" the positional statistics where

averages were collected. This procedure compares

current locality survey data–at the quote level–with the

same quote from the prior survey. Individual rates

from the prior survey are moved by the average

change in mean wages for the occupation.

A-7
Appendix table 3. Average work levels for selected occupations, all workers,

full-time and part-time workers, Austin-San Marcos, TX, October 1998

Occupation1 All

workers

Full-time

workers

Part-time

workers

All occupations ................................................................................. 5 6 3

All occupations excluding sales ...................................................... 6 6 3

White-collar occupations ............................................................. 6 7 4

White-collar occupations excluding sales ................................... 7 7 5

Professional specialty and technical occupations ...................... 8 8 7

Professional specialty occupations ......................................... 9 9 8

Engineers, architects, and surveyors ................................. 11 11 –

Electrical and electronic engineers ................................. 11 11 –

Industrial engineers ........................................................ 10 10 –

Engineers, N.E.C. ........................................................... 12 12 –

Mathematical and computer scientists ............................... 10 10 –

Computer systems analysts and scientists ..................... 10 10 –

Natural scientists ................................................................ – – –

Health related occupations ................................................. 8 8 –

Registered nurses .......................................................... 8 8 –

Teachers, college and university ........................................ 10 10 –

Teachers, except college and university ............................ 7 7 7

Elementary school teachers ........................................... 7 7 –

Secondary school teachers ............................................ 8 8 –

Librarians, archivists, and curators ..................................... – – –

Social scientists and urban planners .................................. 9 9 –

Social, recreation, and religious workers ............................ 7 7 –

Social workers ................................................................ 7 7 –

Lawyers and judges ............................................................ 10 11 –

Lawyers .......................................................................... 10 11 –

Writers, authors, entertainers, athletes, and professionals,

N.E.C. ........................................................................... 8 8 –

Professional occupations, N.E.C. ................................... 10 10 –

Technical occupations ............................................................ 6 6 6

Licensed practical nurses ............................................... 6 6 –

Health technologists and technicians, N.E.C. ................. 4 4 –

Electrical and electronic technicians ............................... 6 6 –

Engineering technicians, N.E.C. ..................................... 7 7 –

Computer programmers ................................................. 8 – –

Executive, administrative, and managerial occupations ............. 9 9 –

Executives, administrators, and managers ......................... 10 10 –

Administrators and officials, public administration .......... 9 9 –

Financial managers ........................................................ 11 11 –

Managers, marketing, advertising and public relations .. 11 11 –

Administrators, education and related fields ................... 10 10 –

Managers and administrators, N.E.C. ............................ 10 10 –

Management related occupations ...................................... 8 8 –

Accountants and auditors ............................................... 8 8 –

Other financial officers .................................................... 7 7 –

Personnel, training, and labor relations specialists ........ 9 9 –

Purchasing agents and buyers, N.E.C. .......................... 9 9 –

Management related occupations, N.E.C. ...................... 8 8 –

Sales occupations ...................................................................... 4 5 2

Supervisors, sales occupations ...................................... 7 7 –

Sales occupations, other business services ................... 5 – –

Sales representatives, mining, manufacturing, and

wholesale .................................................................. 8 8 –

Sales workers, other commodities .................................. 5 – 2

Cashiers ......................................................................... 2 2 1

Administrative support occupations, including clerical ............... 4 4 3

Supervisors, general office ............................................. 6 6 –

Supervisors, distribution, scheduling, and adjusting

clerks ........................................................................ 7 7 –

Secretaries ..................................................................... 5 5 –

Typists ............................................................................ 3 3 –

Receptionists .................................................................. 2 2 –

Information clerks, N.E.C. ............................................... 4 4 –

Order clerks .................................................................... 3 3 –

Records clerks, N.E.C. ................................................... 4 4 –

Bookkeepers, accounting and auditing clerks ................ 4 4 –

Dispatchers ..................................................................... 5 5 –

Traffic, shipping and receiving clerks ............................. 4 – –

See footnotes at end of table.

A-8
Appendix table 3. Average work levels for selected occupations, all workers,

full-time and part-time workers, Austin-San Marcos, TX, October 1998 —

Continued

Occupation1 All

workers

Full-time

workers

Part-time

workers

White-collar occupations (-Continued)

Administrative support occupations, including clerical 

(-Continued)

Stock and inventory clerks .............................................. 4 4 –

Insurance adjusters, examiners, and investigators ........ 6 6 –

Investigators and adjusters except insurance ................ 4 4 –

General office clerks ....................................................... 3 3 3

Data entry keyers ........................................................... 3 3 –

Teachers’ aides .............................................................. 3 3 –

Administrative support occupations, N.E.C. ................... 3 4 –

Blue-collar occupations ............................................................... 4 4 2

Precision production, craft, and repair occupations .................... 5 5 –

Automobile mechanics ................................................... 5 5 –

Plumbers, pipefitters and steamfitters ............................ 6 6 –

Supervisors, production occupations .............................. 7 7 –

Electrical and electronic equipment assemblers ............ 5 5 –

Machine operators, assemblers, and inspectors ........................ 3 3 –

Miscellaneous machine operators, N.E.C. ..................... 3 3 –

Welders and cutters ........................................................ 4 4 –

Assemblers ..................................................................... 2 2 –

Production inspectors, checkers and examiners ............ 5 5 –

Transportation and material moving occupations ....................... 3 3 2

Truck drivers ................................................................... 3 3 –

Bus drivers ...................................................................... 3 – –

Handlers, equipment cleaners, helpers, and laborers ................ 2 2 1

Stock handlers and baggers ........................................... 2 2 1

Freight, stock, and material handlers, N.E.C. ................. 2 2 –

Laborers except construction, N.E.C. ............................. 2 – –

Service occupations ..................................................................... 3 3 2

Protective service occupations ........................................... 5 6 3

Police and detectives, public service .............................. 8 8 –

Guards and police except public service ........................ 2 – –

Food service occupations ................................................... 2 2 2

Waiters and waitresses .................................................. 2 – –

Cooks ............................................................................. 3 – –

Food preparation occupations, N.E.C. ........................... 1 – –

Health service occupations ................................................. 2 3 2

Health aides, except nursing .......................................... 2 – –

Nursing aides, orderlies and attendants ......................... 2 2 –

Cleaning and building service occupations ........................ 2 2 –

Janitors and cleaners ..................................................... 2 2 –

Personal service occupations ............................................. – 3 –

1 A classification system including about 480

individual occupations is used to cover all workers in

the civilian economy. Individual occupations are

classified into one of nine major occupational groups.

The occupations titled authors, musicians, actors,

painters, photographers, dancers, artists, athletes, and

legislators cannot be assigned a work level.

NOTE: Dashes indicate that no data were reported or

that data did not meet publication criteria. Overall

occupational groups and occupational levels may

include data for categories not shown separately. 

N.E.C. means "not elsewhere classified." 

NOTE: Individual and average wage rates were

collected in this update survey. A procedure was put

into place to "move" the positional statistics where

averages were collected. This procedure compares

current locality survey data–at the quote level–with the

same quote from the prior survey. Individual rates

from the prior survey are moved by the average

change in mean wages for the occupation.

A-9